Xiamen City, Fujian Province, east China - Feb 15, 2023 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Various of second Gigabit City Forum in progress
2. Various of exhibition booths, telecoms devices on display

FILE: China - Exact Date and Location Unknown
3. Aerial shot of buildings
4. Various of server room, telecoms engineer working
5. Various of telecoms engineers installing equipment
6. Engineers working in lab
7. Worker adjusting machine
8. Robotic arm working
9. Computer screen showing data, graphs
10. Server room
11. Various of telecoms devices
12. Aerial shots of base station, buildings
13. Aerial shots of engineers installing base station
14. Various of equipment in server room
15. Various of intelligent vehicle in operation
16. Cellphones showing internet speed
17. Engineers installing base station

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has unveiled the second batch of gigabit cities at a forum held in east China's Xiamen City, marking another milestone in the country's digital transformation.

The list includes 81 cities including Xiamen and Nanchang in the east, Foshan and Sanya in the south, Zhangjiakou and Taiyuan in the north and Shenyang in the northeast.

Gigabit cities refer to those that have a fiber-optic cable internet and mobile phone connection offering speeds of 1,000 megabits per second (Mbps).

These cities have to meet a string of standards, including 80 percent coverage rate for 5G network accessibility and 1,000 Mbps fiber optical network in key places, a 25 percent proportion of 5G users, and more than five 1,000 Mbps fiber optical networks and 5G application cases.

China now has 110 gigabit cities, accounting for one third of the prefecture-level cities in the country.

China has been stepping up efforts to foster the construction of the "dual gigabit network" in the gigabit cities.

As the name suggests, the "dual gigabit" refers an advanced network composed of 5G and 1,000 Mbps fiber optical internet. With capacities such as increased data processing and ultra-low delay, it can be applied in fields including industrial manufacture, ports, mines, and culture and tourism, accelerating digital transformation and intelligent development of the respective sectors.

Currently, more than 5 million households in China have accessed to 1,000 Mbps fiber optical network with 2.31 million 5G base stations.

In 110 gigabit cities, all households have accessed to 1,000 Mbps fiber optical network, and the average number of 5G base stations per 10,000 people is 22.2 and the average proportion of 5G users is 38.9 percent, which is above the national average.

As of the end of 2022, China has more than 90 million 1,000 Mbps fiber optical network users, with the number of 5G users exceeding 561 million.

During the forum on Wednesday, MIIT deputy minister Zhang Yunming said the ministry will help encourage leading technology enterprises and research institutions to invest and develop ultrahigh-speed fiber optic transmission, next generation optical network and wireless communication technology.

The ministry will also facilitate China's participation in formation of international, industrial and group standardizations to enhance China’s core competitiveness in the development of "dual gigabit" network, according to Zhang.

In the next step, China will continue to step up the building of gigabit cities and expand the coverage of the "dual gigabit" network, especially in the medium and small-sized cities, as well as the rural and remote areas.