(Yicai) Sept. 9 -- China will fully build a comprehensive and advanced next-generation communication network by 2030, further expanding the coverage and adoption rate of fifth-generation networks, and launch commercial use of sixth-generation network in due time.

The number of 5G and 5G-Advanced base stations per 10,000 people in China will increase to 50 by 2030 from 34 in 2025, according to a five-year plan released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Sept. 7. The adoption rate of 5G and 5G-A will jump to 95 percent from 86 percent, and the number of households with broadband speed exceeding 1 gigabit per second will climb to 320 million from 240 million.

China will proactively advance the construction of information infrastructure, deepen 5G network coverage in key scenarios, promote 5G-A network coverage in urban areas at the county level and above, and extend services to key townships, the MIIT noted.

Moreover, the country will initiate the commercial deployment of 6G at an appropriate time and promote the deep integration of satellite networks with terrestrial communication networks, developing cutting-edge applications, such as direct satellite-to-mobile communication and satellite-based Internet of Things, the MIIT added.

The five-year plan also outlined other development targets. Revenue of China’s information and communication industry will reach CNY4.1 trillion (USD610.9 billion) by 2030, with an average annual growth rate of 1.5 percent over five years, and the country’s investment in information infrastructure will increase by CNY100 billion (USD14.9 billion) to CNY3.8 trillion in the period.

The MIIT also addressed the industry trend of integrating artificial intelligence with information and communication technologies in the plan, proposing development goals for computing power infrastructure. China's intelligent computing power will jump to 9,800 ExaFLOPS by 2030 from 1,590 ExaFLOPS last year, and the scale of its advanced storage will grow to 1,700 exabytes from 540 exabytes.

The China Center for Information Industry Development had earlier predicted that China would establish 500,000 5G-A base stations over the next five years, driving a total output of about CNY7 trillion in upstream and downstream industries and contributing a 1.5 percentage point increase to gross domestic product growth.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Futura Costaglione