PARTNER CONTENT: The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in north China is a diverse region that is home to more than 50 ethnic groups, the biggest being Han, Mongolian, Manchu, and Hui. Due to historical and geographical conditions, some ethnic minorities are concentrated in underdeveloped remote towns and rural areas. To stimulate regional development, China Unicom Inner Mongolia has been working with Huawei and other partners on wireless network construction and innovation, bringing the latest achievements of the digital economy to all people across the region.
Making Work and Life Easier for Herdsmen
Inner Mongolia has 30% of China’s grasslands, including the Hulunbuir and Xilingol grasslands nourished by the rivers of the Greater Hinggan Mountains. Pastoral areas are vast and sparsely populated by Mongolian herders. In the remote Hulunbuir Grassland, wireless signals used to be so unstable that herdsmen were unable to access the Internet and had to travel several kilometers to make or receive calls.
Taking the production and living needs of herdsmen into careful consideration, China Unicom Inner Mongolia has been actively working on universal 4G/5G telecom service projects in recent years to fill the gaps in network infrastructure in pastoral areas. It has delivered diversified digital services such as telemedicine, legal consulting, and online shopping to pastoral areas to connect them with the outside world. This has also made work and life easier for herdsmen. Herders can now put a GPS system on the lead sheep in a flock, install high-definition cameras in pastoral areas, and deploy automatic drinking water systems for animals. From home, they can track their flocks in real time, instead of having to chase them around. Supported by the latest wireless network technologies, agriculture and animal husbandry on the Hulunbuir Grassland have shifted from heavy reliance on weather conditions to sustainable use of technology.
Transforming Regional Tourism
The Ewenki people in Hulunbuir have traditionally made a living from hunting in remote mountain forests isolated from the outside world. They relied on reindeers as their sole means of transportation; used birch bark to make boats, shelter coverings, and other daily necessities; and lived in conical tents supported by pine poles. Now with wireless networks, the Ewenki people can sell their traditional ethnic handicrafts such as clothing, bark and fur mosaics, and sunflower-shaped decorations online. They can display their folk customs such as oboo ceremonies and reindeer culture through live streaming to attract tourists from all over the world.
Whistling Dune Bay, a AAAAA-rated tourist area in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, gets its name from the aircraft-like whistling sounds created by its towering sand dunes. Located near Whistling Dune Bay, Linyuan Village is listed as one of the first key rural tourism villages and towns in Inner Mongolia. China Unicom Inner Mongolia has built powerful wireless network infrastructure to transform Linyuan Village into an exemplary digital village and rural tourism destination. By deploying base stations, the operator has improved network coverage to –83.45 dBm, increased regional traffic by 49.4%, and boosted the average user-perceived rate by 60.5%. User experience in the village has been comprehensively improved, stimulating the local tourism industry.
Creating Limitless Possibilities for the Energy Sector
Inner Mongolia has China’s largest underground reserves of light rare earths and supplies a quarter of the country’s coal and a fifth of the country’s natural gas. The region’s solar and wind resources have enabled rapid development in the renewable energy industry, making it a vital part of the national east-to-west computing resource transfer strategy. Technological innovation underpins the high-quality development of the energy industry, and wireless communications technologies create infinite possibilities for the digital transformation of the coal mining, photovoltaic, and wind power sectors.
In the mining areas in Ordos, China Unicom Inner Mongolia has planned and deployed wireless sites to meet the communications needs of miners. This facilitates communications between mining areas and lays a solid foundation for intelligent production and operation platforms such as converged wireless communications and dispatch platforms and production security management platforms.
In Ulanqab, wireless communications networks enable smart photovoltaic and wind power grids to monitor and control power transmission and distribution. Wireless base stations play a crucial role, especially in mobility scenarios such as last-mile access of power distribution network services, substation inspection by robots, and power transmission and distribution line inspection with drones.
Looking ahead, China Unicom Inner Mongolia will continue to optimize the wireless network capabilities in towns and rural areas to drive socioeconomic development in north China.