Ministry of Industry and Information Technology: Informatization Mainly Raises RMB 150 Billion in Strategic Investment in Broadband

At the 8th National Informatization Experts Forum held recently, Yang Xueshan, vice minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, stressed that it is necessary to accelerate the implementation of the national broadband strategy as one of the major tasks of the 12th Five-Year Information Development.

In response, Hou Ziqiang, a well-known telecommunications radio and television expert, said in an exclusive interview with this newspaper that the competent authorities and telecom operators have all realized the importance of broadband construction, but at the same time they should also note that they should be allowed to adopt a more open mind. Many market players, including broadcasting and television operators and Internet companies, have participated in the construction of next-generation networks.

Broadband Strategy Supports Informatization Development

Yang Xueshan pointed out that it is necessary to accelerate the implementation of the national broadband strategy and provide strong support for low-cost, high-efficiency information development.

During the "12th Five-Year Plan" period, China will invest a total of 1.6 trillion yuan in broadband infrastructure construction, including 570 billion yuan in broadband access network investment. It is estimated that by the end of the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” period, the number of Internet broadband access ports will have doubled to 370 million, basically achieving urban household broadband coverage, and achieving 200 million home fiber-to-the-home coverage.

The reporter also learned that Shanghai and other places have formulated the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" for information infrastructure, and the construction of optical fiber broadband is also an important link, not only involving the expansion of coverage, but also the emphasis on speed enhancement. In addition, the construction of optical fiber broadband has also become the basis for the construction of "Smart City" in many places.

According to the "Opinions on Promoting the Construction of Fiber-optic Broadband Network" jointly formulated by seven ministries and commissions such as the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, by 2011, the number of optical fiber broadband ports exceeded 80 million, the investment in optical fiber broadband network construction exceeded 150 billion yuan in three years, and new broadband users exceeded 50 million. It also requested the formulation and improvement of supporting measures for the construction of optical fiber broadband networks to support the development of network construction.

Optical Communications Become an Industry Focus

Recently, China Telecom and China Unicom were involved in the investigation of the National Development and Reform Commission and were suspected of monopolization in the field of broadband access. Hou Ziqiang said that in the access network part, telecommunications and radio and television operators all want to intervene, but in reality, how to reduce broadband charges on the basis of reducing broadband costs is the most important. He stressed that broadband access should follow Moore's Law, and prices should drop by 30%-50% every year.

"Actually, telecom operators already have the relevant technical level," he said. "But the cost of settlement between core networks is still high."

In terms of releasing the “last mile” access, relevant explorations including the “resident network” have been explored in various places. Shanghai also established Shanghai Construction Communication Network Co., Ltd. as a third-party professional organization to uniformly manage the “last mile” before entering the network.

Affected by the increasing speed of fiber-optic broadband construction, optical communications have become the focus of attention in the industry in the second and third quarters of this year. It is now at a critical period for operators to set the bidding budget for the second year. The reporter learned from relevant persons of the Shanghai Telecom Network Development Department that the development of budget related to fiber-optic broadband construction has not been affected by the "antitrust" investigation. “The group will compare the indicators of comparable areas such as Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Guangdong in the southeastern coastal areas during the assessment. Therefore, our broadband construction will certainly not slow down.”

In addition, China Unicom has just completed the tender for the largest fixed-line broadband equipment this year. The scale of tenders for collective mining is as high as 25 million lines, and the planning budget is as high as 4 billion yuan. Among them, Zhongxing Communications and Fiberhome Communications won the third and fourth positions respectively in winning bids. China Telecom’s previous tender volume was as high as 16 million lines.