China pledges faster and cheaper Internet via 5G

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on Wednesday once again pledged faster and cheaper Internet for the public, saying that it is to materialize its promise through a set of directives aiming for improvement of 5G hard and software and for reduction of user fees.

“The ministry is soon to issue policy directions on how to better implement the 17 tasks within four realms, ranging from increasing investment in telecommunications infrastructure, tapping further into the potential of broadband fee reduction, encouraging broadband-based innovation, to optimizing the environment for faster and cheaper Internet,” said Wen Ku, head of Communications Development under the MIIT.

Wen told a press conference that the country’s network of optical fibers will reach further to connect over 30,000 administrative villages while service fees will continue to come down on international phone calls and charges for domestic trunk calls and roaming service fees will be dropped for good.

“By the end of this year, fixed-line broadband is expected to reach 63 percent of households while mobile broadband would reach 75 percent of households,” Wen told the press.

The communications development head disclosed that China-proposed 5G concepts have won acknowledgement from among international peers and the country is completing its second-phase experimentation with the 5G before the end of this year.

“We’ve done the first phase of 5G experimentation by last September, namely, verifying and checking the technological protocols. We’re now in the second phase, focusing more on the integration and practicality of the technologies,” said Wen Ku.