Ningbo, an essential economic hub south of the Yangtze River Delta, is effecting a promising transition from a traditional industrial center to an intelligent and smart manufacturing hub. This evolving and vibrant city, with its 83 leading manufacturing companies and 283 Specialized, Refined, Differential and Innovative (SRDI) establishments, has moved swiftly to connect to the world through the advanced 5G platform. It earned the distinction of creating China’s first fully 5G connected factory corps, signalling its dedication to delivering the best digital infrastructure for manufacturers.
The General Manager of the Government and Enterprise Customer Department, China Mobile Ningbo, Wang Ying, confirmed the two-pronged approach to digital intelligence: “First, by connecting information highway pipelines and, secondly, by boosting data-reality synergy.” This strategy has six layers, each contributing toward a stable and efficient information transmission, which stimulates the industry and boosts digitization.
Beyond just establishing leadership in this realm, China Mobile Ningbo is scaling up the 5G industrial internet to achieve digital intelligent synergy. The city’s progression from trial stage to large-scale implementation of 5G technology has been swift and decisive. An impressive 625 5G private networks have already been deployed, with 20 advanced 5G capabilities now in commercial use. China Mobile Ningbo is building a high-performance all-optical network, aiming to deliver a simplified, trustworthy, and autonomous network to businesses and manufacturers. With its superior Gigabit 5G network providing wide coverage, the company’s efforts earned recognition as an excellent carrier across four scenarios nationwide.
China Mobile Ningbo has adopted a varied approach to ensure businesses of all sizes can tap into the vast potential of 5G to enhance their operations. For example, over 20 manufacturers have chosen on-premise private networks, which keep data on-site while maintaining ongoing services that boost production and operation efficiency.
More than 500 small and medium enterprises have chosen lightweight private networks. Requirement-specific and highly secure slide-based private networks are employed in power grid areas, demonstrating the versatility and adaptability of China Mobile Ningbo’s 5G network. Underpinning this vast network is an international infrastructure with 225 Points of Presence (POPs) outside China, covering 87 countries and regions. Moreover, it offers secure and reliable dual-domain private network support to more than 30,000 customers for easy switching between intranet and extranet.
Wang Ying confirmed, “We are providing customizable networking solutions to ensure flexibility. China Mobile Ningbo is also committed to providing open network data services and intrinsic security protection systems.”
Numerous companies are reaping the benefits of this infrastructure. Ningbo Port Wharf and Zhenhai Refining and Chemical Company, for instance, are using 5G-supported processes to achieve operational efficiencies across several areas. Similarly, IKD deploys 15 5G application scenarios, enabling cost reduction and efficiency improvement, leading to the company’s overall growth.
The vision for the future is clear for China Mobile Ningbo. They aspire to collaborate with various industry verticals, aiming to identify and address their challenges with relevant 5G solutions. This confidence in moving forward is built on a successful past that saw numerous partnerships for the development, growth, and proliferation of the 5G ecosystem. The success of China Mobile Ningbo powerfully showcases the transformative potential of 5G technology in furthering the production and efficiency of businesses. Other regions and service providers have a practical and successful blueprint to emulate to stimulate their own economic growth by empowering their companies to use 5G technology smartly and effectively.
