Broadcasting and Television Network New Vision | ⑬ Unlocking the Potential of 700MHz to Draw a New Blueprint for Digital Ecological Civilization Construction

(Source: China Broadcasting Network)

In the wave of accelerating the collaborative development of digitalization and greening, and building a green, intelligent digital ecological civilization, Guangdong Broadcasting Network bravely undertakes the mission of the times, using the 700MHz 5G network as a strategic fulcrum to leverage the transformation of government and enterprise businesses, deeply cultivating the new track of energy transition and ecological environmental protection. Through technological innovation, it addresses coverage challenges and empowers industry applications with high-quality services. In the practice of serving local governance modernization and constructing a beautiful picture of harmonious coexistence between humans and nature, it has delivered an impressive “Broadcasting Network Answer Sheet.”

Strategic Navigation: Deepening the 700MHz Government and Enterprise “New Blue Ocean”

The 700MHz frequency band, praised as a “golden frequency band” due to its broad coverage, strong penetration ability, and low transmission loss, is ideal for solving communication issues in complex environments such as mountainous and maritime areas. In these areas, traditional 5G signal coverage is limited, while the coverage radius of the 700MHz frequency band exceeds 10 kilometers, making it an ideal choice to solve the “last mile” communication challenge.

Entering the 5G era, Guangdong Broadcasting Network seizes the opportunity, capturing the window for innovative applications and positioning government and enterprise businesses as the breakthrough for strategic transformation. It promotes the construction of the 700MHz 5G network, the transformation of advantages, and the deep integration of government and enterprise business expansion. A company representative stated, “The Broadcasting 5G must follow a differentiated competitive path, and the special application scenarios of 700MHz in industries such as manufacturing, agriculture, and marine are blue ocean markets.”

To this end, Guangdong Broadcasting Network quickly formed multiple project teams, integrating internal resources, focusing on strategies such as “Smart Ocean” and “Green and Beautiful Guangdong,” and developing business expansion strategies like 5G + Energy and 5G + Marine, reaping fruitful results in the construction of a green, intelligent digital ecological civilization. At the 7th “Bloom Cup” 5G Application Competition, its “700MHz 5G Private Network Smart Guangning Wind Farm Project” and “5G + Yangtze River White Dolphin Acoustic, Optical, and Environmental Coupling Real-time Monitoring Project” respectively won first prizes in the 5G + Energy Colored Industry Special Competition and the 5G + Water Conservancy Marine Special Competition.

Among them, the “5G + Yangtze River White Dolphin Acoustic, Optical, and Environmental Coupling Real-time Monitoring Project” can monitor the Yangtze River white dolphin around the clock, allowing for the formulation of precise protection measures to effectively safeguard this flagship species and the Pearl River Estuary ecosystem, promote the recovery of rare and endangered species populations, and enhance the functions of gene and resource banks in protected areas. By 2024, the Yangtze River white dolphin has been designated as the mascot of Zhuhai City, and the project aids in transforming the protected area into an important base for conservation, monitoring, scientific research, and popular science education in the South China Sea, achieving a virtuous cycle of ecological protection and livelihood development.

The implementation of customized 700MHz 5G products and standard solutions marks an important step for Guangdong Broadcasting Network in its digital and intelligent transformation. The effectiveness of this transformation has been fully validated in the green energy sector, with the Guangbei Wind Power Plant project providing intelligent solutions to operational challenges.

Green Empowerment: 5G Private Networks Address Wind Power Operation and Maintenance “Pain Points”

The Guangbei Wind Power Plant in Zhaoqing Guangning is the location for the 700MHz 5G private network smart wind farm project. This wind farm generates approximately 100 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually but is located in a complex mountainous area with adverse weather conditions, resulting in a traditional communication coverage rate of less than 40%, posing significant challenges for wind power operation and maintenance. With the national emphasis on energy structure transformation increasing, green energy such as wind power is developing rapidly, but challenges such as autonomous operation and safety management hinder the safe and stable development of the industry, making the implementation of the “Wind Power + Industrial Internet” strategy urgent.

Technological breakthroughs have created a simple and efficient coverage solution. Guangdong Broadcasting Network, in collaboration with AsiaInfo Technologies, is utilizing the 700MHz frequency band to create a 5G private network project with a fully integrated core network localized. They innovatively deployed integrated 700MHz base stations. With just two outdoor macro stations and one indoor distribution base station, they achieved full coverage, saving 75% in deployment costs compared to traditional solutions. Once the network is built, it can support 2,400 5G terminal connections simultaneously, laying the foundation for intelligent applications like drone inspections and tower-climbing robots.

Overcoming difficulties, a solid front-line communication safety line is established. During the construction and maintenance process, the mountainous terrain poses challenges, with frontline employees like Xie Ganqiu, Wu Qingqiang, and Chen Zhicong stationed in the field year-round. Xie Ganqiu walks over 12 kilometers daily to inspect communication lines, checking for hazards regardless of weather; Wu Qingqiang stands by at the station 24 hours a day, ready to respond to any 5G private network signal failures; Chen Zhicong regularly ventures into remote mountains to conduct fiber fusion, signal debugging, and optimization work, ensuring real-time data transmission. They measure the mountain routes with their footsteps and solidify the defense line through their dedication, ultimately achieving 100% coverage for wind turbines and 97.2% coverage for roads.

Innovation leads the way, establishing a benchmark for industry transformation practices. This 5G private network is highly secure and deeply integrated with the operational business of the wind farm. The base stations are integrated with the turbines, fully utilizing existing fiber resources and reducing network operation and maintenance costs. The project realizes collaboration among industry clients, product solution providers, and communication operators to build a 5G ecosystem, applying decoupled software and hardware, and fully cloud-based deployment of the 5GC power private network core. It explores the combination of wind power 5G private networks with edge data collection, operation and maintenance process control, work safety management, and remote diagnostics, providing new ideas and practical paths for the intelligent and digital transformation of the wind power industry.

Service Foundation: Creating a “Iron Triangle” Support Model

Behind the successful implementation of government and enterprise projects is the innovative practices and service capabilities of the people at Guangdong Broadcasting Network. Amidst the towering mountains and myriad islands, staff members are stationed on the front lines, maintaining a secure and stable intelligent network. The company has also summarized and distilled the “Iron Triangle” service model for the 700MHz government and enterprise business, which consists of a front-end “customer manager” focused on business development and customer relationships, a middle-end “technical expert” leading network architecture design and technical challenges, and a back-end “solution expert” coordinating project implementation and operational delivery. The collaboration of these three ensures the smooth implementation of projects, achieving a win-win situation for government, enterprises, and operators. This service model will play a greater role in future innovations in government and enterprise business exploration.

Looking ahead, Guangdong Broadcasting Network will closely align with the strategic opportunities of the “14th Five-Year Plan,” strengthen cooperation and innovation, serve local party committees and governments as well as various industries, and lay out fields such as 5G + ecological protection and 5G + marine economy, unleashing the potential of 700MHz in new tracks. It will refine scenarios, deepen applications, and strengthen businesses, becoming a “partner” in the digital transformation of government and enterprises. Actively integrating into local new infrastructure planning, it will support the high-quality development of the regional digital economy, striving to write a new chapter for the new broadcasting network serving social livelihoods.

Contributed by: Guangdong Broadcasting Network