1.777 billion users - this is the number of cellular Internet of Things terminal users of the three basic telecommunications enterprises by the end of October 2022, a net increase of 379 million over the end of last year. The China Academy of Information and Communications Technology predicts that by 2030, the number of mobile Internet of Things connections in China will reach 10 billion. Behind the rapid growth of data is the continuous emergence of innovative applications related to the mobile Internet of Things. Industrial interconnection, smart agriculture, remote meter reading, smart home, shared equipment... The mobile Internet of Things and thousands of industries have accelerated the scale development of innovation and integration, profoundly changing the way of production and life, enabling new applications in the industry and activating new economic drivers.

At the Jinji Water Plant in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, Shen Peikun, an employee, started his day's work by checking his mobile phone in the morning. "You see, the mobile phone application shows that the turbidity of the factory water has reached the high quality level." Shen Peikun showed the real-time data while telling the reporter that if the equipment is damaged or the water quality is abnormal, it can be seen through the large central control screen or the mobile phone application, and the abnormal high temperature and vibration conditions also have a timely warning.

"In the past, we used to run around the equipment machine room every day, and we were all covered with water and mud." Shen Peikun told the reporter that the key equipment of the water plant is now operating and interconnected in the Cloud. The intelligent sensor combined with AI algorithm can carry out automatic data collection, remote meter reading, remote control valve and other functions, and effectively identify the abnormal operation of the equipment. "Before the intelligent transformation, the water plant needed about 60 first-line workers. Now only two people can manage and control many processes in the plant in the central control room. The plant also only needs a total of four teams of eight first-line operators."

Maintaining efficient and stable operation is only the first step. Xie Xiaohua, director of the dispatching center of the water plant, said that the data collected from the terminal equipment can further achieve energy conservation and consumption reduction and improve the water experience by relying on the AI water consumption prediction model provided by Baidu AI Cloud. "Take water pressure as an example. In the past, water companies can only judge whether the water pressure setting is reasonable by collecting customer complaints. Now they can use the data model to guide the staff to actively adjust the pressure."

Not only smart water, but also the innovative applications of mobile Internet of Things are happening across a wide range of sectors. At the National Black Goat Breeding Preservation Farm in Dazu District, Chongqing, each black goat wears an "electronic ID card" - 5G smart electronic ear tag. Through this electronic ID card and data access to the 5G black goat intelligent breeding platform, the staff can accurately grasp and analyze the sheep breeding stock, sheep breeding indicators, and sheep growth status. In Jinan, through the smart gas management platform, staff can view and manage nearly 500,000 Internet of Things gas meters in real time. Remote meter reading and online recharging make gas management more convenient.

"The mobile Internet of Things and thousands of industries accelerate innovation and integration, so as to make data generate value, empower all fields of economy and society, and promote digital transformation and upgrading." Yu Xiaohui, president of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, said that at present, the narrowband Internet of Things has formed four 10-million-level applications such as water meters, gas meters, smoke sensors, and tracking, seven million-level applications such as white appliances, street lights, parking, and agriculture, and emerging applications such as TV set-top boxes, trash cans, cold chains, mold management and others. 5G has accelerated the exploration and implementation of Internet of Things application scenarios in industrial Internet, Internet of Vehicles, logistics, mining and other fields, covering 40 major categories of the national economy.

In 2022, China’s mobile Internet of Things has ushered in an important node of comprehensive development. According to the data of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the number of mobile Internet of Things terminal users representing "things" connection exceeded the number of mobile phone users representing "people" connection for the first time at the end of August 2022, and the trend of "things over people" continued. By the end of October, the number of terminal users of the cellular Internet of Things developed by three basic telecommunications enterprises had reached 1.777 billion, surpassing the number of mobile phone users by 94.82 million.

Wu Hequan, academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, believes that in the past, the development of the Internet and mobile Internet mainly depended on demographic dividend. Now, the application of the Internet of Things has opened another dimension. Applications of the industrial Internet, smart city and smart home furnishing has achieved explosive growth, and a new milestone will be reached in the development of network technology.

“While the mobile Internet of Things is deeply integrated into various fields and links of economic and social development, the technology and product R&D capabilities of domestic enterprises continue to strengthen, and the ecosystem continues to improve.” Yu Xiaohui said that China’s mobile Internet of Things is far higher than the world’s major developed countries in connection scale and the proportion of “Superman of Things”. Since 2015, China has been a major contributor to the global mobile Internet of Things technology innovation. In terms of ecological construction, the scale of China’s mobile Internet of Things industry continues to grow, the industrial supply capacity has been significantly improved, and the shipment of chips, modules, terminals and others take the world’s leading.

Yu Xiaohui said that with the continuous optimization and improvement of the development foundation and industrial system of the mobile Internet of Things, the number of mobile Internet of Things end users will further expand.

On the one hand, China has built the world’s largest mobile Internet of Things network, achieving a good situation of high, medium and low speed collaborative networking, and accelerating the migration of 2G/3G Internet of Things business to 4G/5G. On the other hand, it is essential to constantly improve the whole industry level of mobile Internet of Things networks and chips, modules, platforms and industrial applications, and promote the comprehensive development of mobile Internet of Things application industry ecology. The China Academy of Information and Communications Technology predicts that by 2030, the number of mobile Internet of Things connections in China will reach 10 billion.

“China’s mobile Internet of Things will move towards a broader, deeper and higher level of development, from serving people and information consumption in the past to serving thousands of industries now, so that the vision of 'Internet of Things' can truly become a reality.”

Yu Xiaohui said that in the future, the mobile Internet of Things will greatly expand the scope and depth of connection. Combined with technologies such as perception and edge computing, the mobile Internet of Things will promote the digitalization and intelligence of people, machines and objects, lead the new wave of change in the information and communications industry, contribute to the high-quality development of the digital society, and add new impetus to economic development.