China Telecom: More Investment for Smarter City

Recently, China Telecom is frequently reported with actions in Shanghai: on August 7, it signed the 2012-2013 strategic agreement about building the“Smarter City” in Shanghai with the Shanghai municipal government. It plans to make additional investment of CNY 14 billion in this project. On the same day, the service base of Internet of Automobiles was inaugurated in Shanghai. On August 22, the first “Smart Community” in China was established and launched on the Gumei Road, Minhang District, Shanghai. Then, on September 1, China Telecom Shanghai started the fourth campaign of increasing Internet speed as promised…

In addition, China Telecom Shanghai has already made obvious achievements in the construction of “Smarter City”, in which it played the leading role. According to the Shanghai municipal government, Shanghai has been the champion in China in terms of the coverage of fiber network, the number of fiber users, the covering density of WLAN, the urban outlet bandwidth, and the number of IPTV HD video users. Meanwhile, the use of smart applications goes further, allowing more citizens to share the fruits of “Smarter City”.

Complete Coverage of Fiber Network

The last cooperation between China Telecom and Shanghai municipal government, which started in April 2009, set up a good example for the close cooperation between operators and local governments. The agreement, which was based on “maintaining growth and promoting transformation”, initiated the collaboration on the construction of “four centers” in Shanghai as well as the information projects for the World Expo. From 2009 to now, China Telecom Shanghai launched more than 10 municipal-level projects of information technology and over 1000 district-level projects every year to promote the upgrade the information infrastructure and applications in Shanghai. Among them, the Wireless City and “Fiber to the Home” were launched in the mid-2009 and entered the age of overall construction in 2011.

From last year, citizens in Shanghai began to fully enjoy the benefits of free Internet speed increase brought by China Telecom’s Metro Optical Networks(MONET). At the beginning of 2011, China Telecom Shanghai began the Internet speed increase plan featuring “free connection of fiber network to homes, free Internet speed increase, free access to WiFi hotspots, presence of 100Gb space for family storage and connecting 20-100Mb network to houses”.

This plan was followed by a fraternal project featuring “faster Internet for fiber users, signing for free experience and new feedback for small enterprises”, which was launched on October 1, 2011.

This April, China Telecom launched a new campaign to bring benefits for governmental and corporate users and three specific user groups (including the aged, disabled and poor people living in indemnificatory houses”.

These projects greatly highlighted“free of charges” and “Internet speed increase”, indulging ordinary people, small enterprises and others with the benefits of “Smarter City” and increasing the broadband level in Shanghai.

The fourth project was initiated on September 1, aiming at “the mass migration of coppe users, new experience of Smart Family and overall entry into the Age of Fibers”. During the campaign, all copper users will see their network be upgraded to fiber network with at least 10Mb bandwidth gratuitously and unconditionally.

Data shows that the MONET of Shanghai could cover 6.28 million users by June 2012 and the number of users had surmounted 1.9 million. In Pudong, users can have fiber network installed in their houses in no more than 48 hours after their application. The same pattern will be spread to the whole city within this year. Shanghai has already taken the titles of “No. 1 city of MONET in China” and“No. 1 city of IPTV in China”. In addition, it has made 7,500 WiFi hotspots in the city and owns the largest number of new 3G users among the major telecom operators in China with a 40% market share.

Three Major Fields as the Core of New Cooperation

In the 2012-2013 strategic agreement on “Smarter City”, China Telecom promised to invest additional CNY 14 billion in two years for Smart Government, Smart People’s Livelihood and Smart Industry along with the comprehensive increase of IT level and the construction of Smarter City.

According to China Telecom, it will help to build a fiber network that could cover the entire urban area and 7.5 million households in Shanghai. The fiber network will be installed within 48 hours after users’ applications. Moreover, China Telecom is going to build the world-leading average bandwidth of 18Mb and the average inlet bandwidth of 32Mb (including the bandwidth for applications).

In terms of the WiFi-based wireless local network, China Telecom is going to establish over 10,000 hotspots in the city. It will also begin to explore the LTE network. 7000 of IDC/DC frames will be added to increase the total number of frames to 20,000 units, which can make Shanghai a more appealing place for well-established multinationals. It will also help small enterprises lower their cost and improve efficiency. The communication capacity with international undersea fiber cables is going to hit 5Tb with a 660Gb International Internet outlet. The switch capacity of metropolitan area network will still be the largest in the whole country.

It is known that China Telecom aims at making Shanghai one of the most competitive areas in China in terms of domestic communication quality, Internet bandwidth, comprehensive services and relevant charges.

China Telecom also promised to further expand the industrial base of E-Surfing mobile Internet and establish cooperative relationships with software designers, chip makers and suppliers of valueadded mobile services in Shanghai to promote the development of mobile Internet industry in Shanghai. They will work together to build the information service base for the Internet of Automobiles to reduce the traffic jam and improve the road safety in Shanghai. They will also build a base for promoting innovation in information service, trying to cultivate a group of influential creative companies with thousands of new jobs within 2 years.

In the three major fields of Smart Government, Smart People’s Livelihood and Smart Industry, China Telecom and the Shanghai municipal government will primarily focus on upgrading the government functionality, government affair management, social management, cultural education, community life and smart enterprises, as well as applying IT into the healthcare, urban traffic, logistics, finance and industrial parks. The two parties will also build a portal website of “Smarter City”.

According to Mr. Zhang Weihua, General Manager of China Telecom Shanghai, the “Smarter City” can be divided into three major parts: the information infrastructure, including MONET, WiFi and wireless network, the comprehensive network based on cloud computing, and the smart applications. The development of “Smarter City”and the use of smart applications are mainly reflected by Smart Government, Smart People’s Livelihood and Smart Industry.

The Smart Government refers to the implementation of intelligent office, regulation, service and decision-making, which can fully improve the public management and service of the government. The Smart People’s Livelihood primarily aims to popularize the system of traffic, healthcare, education, community and entertainment and eliminate related obstacles. Hen all applications will serve to pull the Smart Industry, accelerate the economic transformation and improve the industrial agglomeration effect. Thanks to the investment of China Telecom in the MONET, WiFi, community application and cloud computing, the related industries have dramatic development in Shanghai.

The Chinese first “Smart Community” was built on August 22 based on the cooperation between China Telecom Shanghai and the Minhang District. It allowed residents to have outpatient appointments and look into their medical records and physical check data through IPTV at home. They can also find the growth records, curriculum arrangement and school menu of their children, in addition to the vegetable price in major daily supplies sites in Minhang District. China Telecom is expected to build 20“Smart Communities” by the end of this year and 50 by 2013.

The “Smart Community” just represents how China Telecom implements its agreement with the Shanghai municipal government.