(Yicai) April 21 -- China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will step up a coordinated push into the development of cutting-edge technologies such as sixth-generation mobile communications and the next-generation internet, while fostering closer collaboration and innovation between the information and communications sector and vertical industries, a ministry spokesperson said today.

The ministry will also expand deep coverage of 5G and gigabit fiber networks, while continuing a campaign to improve signal quality, Xie Cun said. It will accelerate the large-scale commercial use of 5G-Advanced, which is an upgraded version of 5G, roll out pilot programs for ultra-fast 10-gigabit optical networks, upgrade the current Dual Gigabit Network, which includes 5G and gigabit fiber, to the ‌Dual 10G Network, and speed up the development of the mobile Internet of Things toward a fully connected “Intelligence of Everything” setup.

China had 4.95 million 5G base stations as of March 31 and 32 million ports capable of delivering gigabit internet via 10G PON ports, Xie said. Pilot deployments of ultra-fast 10-gigabit optical networks have been carried out in 168 residential complexes, factories and industrial parks in 86 cities and 5G-Advanced coverage is available in 330 cities. The mobile Internet of Things sector is growing fast, with 2.94 billion connected devices, he added.

The ministry will support forward-looking research into space-based computing technologies and steadily promote the development of the space computing industry, Vice Minister Zhang Yunming said at a press conference today.

The MIIT will guide the construction of computing infrastructure based on demand, promote coordination between green energy and computing resources, advance automated monitoring of computing power nationwide, improve the China Computational Power Platform, better match supply and demand for computing resources and boost overall efficiency in how these resources are used, Zhang said.

The added value of industrial enterprises above a designated size in China, which refers to those with an annual revenue of at least CNY20 million (USD2.9 million), jumped 6.1 percent in the first quarter from a year ago, Zhang said. All 31 provinces recorded growth, and more than 80 percent of industries expanded. The industrial sector contributed nearly 40 percent to economic growth.

Editor: Kim Taylor