GSMA THRIVE CHINA 2020: Yang Jie, China Mobile chairman (pictured), believes the Covid-19 (coronavirus) pandemic will prove to be a catalyst for societal transformation, with mobile technology leading the charge.

Yang said the Chinese operator was actively “fighting” the pandemic through a series of initiatives, offering connectivity for a range of remote health services, providing medical robots and support for front line workers.

He, however, used his speech to focus on to the future and detail how the company would help the economy recover from the health crisis, with technology taking a new importance in the way people work and live.

Because of this, the chairman of the world’s largest mobile operator believes “crisis and opportunities co-exist”.

“Remote work applications are now being popularised and traditional offline work will be transformed to remote work,” he said. “Digital applications for life scenarios are also now being extended. In the past they met large-scale, basic life needs. Now they’re meeting personalised high-quality life experience requirements.”

New digital economy
Yang explained the company’s vision for the transformation of both society and the economy, emphasising an online, intelligent and cloud-based approach would help fuel five different digital verticals spanning: infrastructure; society governance; production; ways of working; and way of life.

“These five verticals and three horizontals are penetrating every aspect of the society and economy. This will further promote an overall upgrade in innovation and improvement of productivity. It will open up a new period for digital economy,” he added.

Underpinning its vision is the company’s 5G rollout. Yang said China Mobile was planning to to build 300,000 5G base stations by the end of 2020 and work on 100 5G demonstration projects across 15 industries to boost the technology’s reach across sectors.

To view the keynote and other Thrive sessions, click here.