General Secretary Xi Jinping has attached great importance to strengthened development of information infrastructure, the in-depth integration of information resources, and unblocked information “artery” for economic and social development. The MIIT has followed basic trends and laws of the development and evolution of information technologies, and ensured coordination in pursing development and upholding security, taking firm steps toward building national strength in cyberspace. The network infrastructure has been improved by leaps and bounds, with the establishment of the world’s largest, technologically advanced fiber-optic broadband and mobile communication networks. All prefecture-level cities have been covered with fiber networks, with 93.4% of users enjoying an access rate of 100Mbps and above and over 50 million users enjoying gigabit access. China’s 4G base stations account for more than half of the world’s total and it has built 1.615 million 5G base stations, serving 413 million 5G mobile users. The strength of the ICT industry has been significantly enhanced. In terms of mobile communication technologies, China has achieved “breakthroughs in 3G”, “parallel progress in 4G” and “leadership in 5G”. 5G standard-essential patents account for 38.2% of the total and the gap between China and technologically leading countries has continued to be narrowed in 5G chips, operating systems for mobile devices and other core technologies in key fields. China has built the world’s largest and most complete industry ecosystem for optical communication, with optical communication equipment, optical module components, optical fibers and cables, and some other key technologies being internationally advanced. There are 301 unicorn companies in China’s Internet sector, or 25% of the world’s total. Internet applications such as e-commerce, e-government, mobile office, online education and video live streaming have been extensively popularized, greatly raising the efficiency of social operation. The annual transaction volume of mobile payment has reached RMB527 trillion and new economic forms have created over 20 million positions of flexible employment. The next generation of ICTs represented by 5G has seen accelerated adoption in many industries including industrial manufacturing, ports, mining, health care, education, culture and tourism, with a total of over 20,000 use cases. ICT inclusion and sharing have enabled high quality service at lower price and universal telecom services have been promoted in greater width and depth. For the first time in history, broadband access has been realized in all administrative villages across the country, the proportion of China’s primary and secondary schools (including teaching facilities) with network accessibility has increased from 25% to 100% and telemedicine has covered all counties lifted from poverty, proving strong support to win the battle against poverty. The “less fee for faster network” policy has been implemented in greater depth. The average download rate on broadband network has increased from 1.6Mbit per second to 62.5Mbit per second, roughly 40 times faster, while the average tariff per unit of mobile data has dropped by more than 95%. Number portability has been launched nationwide, with an accumulated number of users exceeding 61 million. Faster progress has been achieved in the transformation of Internet applications for better age-friendliness and information accessibility so that the elderly, the disabled and other groups with special needs can also share the benefits of ICT development. The “Travel History Record” service has supported nearly 60 billion inquiries for free, securing routinized epidemic prevention and control and the smooth mobility of the general public. The capability in guaranteeing emergency communication has been continuously strengthened, successfully supporting major events with communication guarantee, while the capabilities in flood and drought control, disaster relief and emergency response have continued to be improved. Major public concerns and headaches, such as the pop-ups “that can’t be blocked”, the “Open in App” pop-ups, and unwanted software download, have been effectively addressed for correction. More than 99% of unwanted calls have been effectively reported and addressed in a timely manner, and the number of user complaints about spam SMS has dropped to a record-low level. The data security management system has taken shape in the field of industry and information technology, and the security guarantee system has been primarily established for the industrial Internet and other new facilities, rapidly improving the comprehensive strength of the cyber security industry.

6. All market entities have been fully energized while the comprehensive strength and competitiveness of Chinese enterprises have been remarkably enhanced