Integrated space-air-ground-sea 6G R&D achievements, low-orbit direct-to-handheld satellite connectivity, Wuzhen 5G-A super uplink, 4K high-definition live streaming of Wuzhen canals, and a computing-network infrastructure foundation supporting thousands of industries...
These were the impressive scenes I witnessed at the China Mobile booth during the 2026 World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit. Starting from Wuzhen, I subsequently visited frontline sites such as Minth's future factory in Jiaxing and local schools, observing how China Mobile's5G-A and integrated computing networks are bringing numerous changes to ordinary people and various industries.
Today, the intelligent world is accelerating towards us, with large model parameters growing ever larger and AI agents proliferating everywhere. However, no matter how smart the algorithms or how flashy the applications, they all require a solid "computing network foundation for the intelligent era." I discovered that during this conference, China Mobile presented the industry with a pragmatic answer sheet covering everything from AI product solutions to implementation scenarios.
01 At the Booth: Fortifying the Foundation of the AI Era with Five "Hard Cards"
The exhibitions at the 2026 Wuzhen World Internet Conference were equally spectacular and rich, but I felt deeply that each exhibitor was becoming more pragmatic. Take China Mobile, for example: rather than merely stacking single-point technologies, it presented a blueprint for a foundational base featuring the synergy of three networks: "communication network + computing network + intelligent network." China Mobile is fortifying the foundation of the AI era with multiple cornerstones, which can be described as national key assets.
First, Securing the "Standard High Ground" for 6G
In China Mobile's 6G exhibition area, several hardware devices could be viewed up close: 6G base station prototypes, 6G communication terminals, integrated communication-sensing-computing-intelligence experimental devices, RF array modules, and direct-to-handheld satellite terminal prototypes were displayed in sequence. From wireless access base stations to user-side terminals, the entire end-to-end experimental hardware suite was unveiled, moving beyond mere animated simulations to make the hardware foundation of next-generation communications clearly tangible.
Mobile communications evolve once every decade. While 5G solved high-speed connectivity, as AI permeates thousands of industries, sectors demand networks that "can not only transmit data but also compute and sense."
According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and 3GPP plans, the first 6G standard (Release 21) is expected to reach functional freeze by December 2028, paving the way for commercial use in 2030.
In standard-setting, China Mobile leads globally with 19 initiated 6G international standards. Meanwhile, its proposed "Theoretical and Technical System for Intelligent Open Networked Collaborative Communication-Sensing in 6G" was selected as one of the ten landmark achievements from central enterprises' original technology source areas. The 6G prototype has established an end-to-end overall architecture; the field trials, with Beijing as the main node, connect 17 sites, over 30 industrial partners, and more than 10 typical scenarios, moving 6G from the laboratory to open verification.
Second: Satellite Internet Transforming "Coverage Blind Spots" into "Seamless Global Coverage"
At China Mobile's Wuzhen Space-Ground Integration exhibition area, we saw real-time footage of existing mobile phones connecting directly to satellites and on-orbit inference. The Low Earth Orbit Experimental Satellite 02, Space-based Intelligent Computing Payload 1.0, and Tianqi Satellite models were simultaneously unveiled at the booth.
Deep mountains, oceans, and high altitudes have long been blind spots for ground communications, where disasters damaging ground base stations can easily interrupt connectivity. In response, China Mobile has built the Space-Terrestrial Cooperative Networking (STCN) system. Leveraging the Low Earth Orbit Experimental Satellite 02 launched this year and the Space-based Intelligent Computing Payload 1.0, it achieves direct satellite connectivity for existing mobile phones and on-orbit inference, creating a new paradigm of coordinated space-ground computing. The Tianqi Low Earth Orbit Narrowband IoT satellites have completed Phase 1 networking of 41 satellites, supporting continuous access for wide-area IoT.
Third: 5G-A Solving Industry Challenges Related to "Uplink"
In the 5G-A Super Uplink exhibition area, a patrol robot dog in Wuzhen, relying on the super uplink network, transmitted real-time high-definition video of scenic areas, network quality, and geographic location information back to the control center, attracting spectators.
Today, scenarios with dense uplink demands, such as live streaming and robotic inspection, pose challenges to traditional networks. Zhejiang Mobile has implemented a 5G-A Super Uplink premium experience network, achieving an uplink peak rate of 1 Gbps and ubiquitous rates of 20 Mbps, providing deterministic support for uplink-intensive industries.
Fourth: Computing Networks Making Compute Power "Available On-Demand Like Water and Electricity"
In the computing network exhibition area, a nationwide topology map of the "Jiuzhou Computing Optical Network" covered the entire display wall, with 14 intelligent computing center nodes connected by light bands to the eight major hubs of the "East Data West Computing" project, dynamically illustrating the flow of compute power. Domestic intelligent computing chips from Ascend, Kunlunxin, Biren, and Tianshu were displayed on the stand.
The biggest barrier to AI implementation is expensive, scattered, and inaccessible compute power. To address this, China Mobile has built the world's largest G-SRv6 intelligent internet and 400G OTN backbone network, constructing a three-tier latency circle of 1 millisecond within cities, 5 milliseconds across provinces, and 20 milliseconds nationwide. It has established 14 intelligent computing center nodes with a total compute scale of 73.8 EFLOPS and created two ten-thousand-card training bases in Hohhot and Harbin.
Fifth: Positioning in the Token Track to Seize Initiative in the Intelligent Era
We then saw three exhibition areas arranged in a row: China Mobile Token Factory, Token Products, and Token Going Global. The factory area demonstrated the dual-hub scheduling of the MoMA Model Service Platform's "recommendation of optimal models" and the "Computing Network Brain's supply of optimal compute," while Token factory nodes in Wenzhou, Jiaxing, and other locations were sequentially unveiled.
Tokens are becoming the basic atomic unit and measurement standard for AI information processing in the intelligent era. The daily average token invocation volume in China has surged from 100 billion in early 2024 to 140 trillion in 2026, representing a more than thousand-fold increase over two years.
During this expo, China Mobile fully showcased its comprehensive Token strategic layout. For instance, in terms of Token products, China Mobile has incubated six benchmark applications: AI Office Qida, AI Programming Zhanlu Code, AI Short Drama, AI Surveillance, AI Commerce, and AI-eSIM.
I found that China Mobile uses the MoMA Model Service Platform for model selection and the Computing Network Brain as the compute scheduling hub. It has run through the nation's first full-link closed loop for token export in Shantou, achieving a daily average export invocation volume of 65 billion tokens.
There was much more impressive content. It is easy to see that the five cards played by China Mobile in one go during this conference collectively answer a question: China Mobile is increasingly consolidating the "invisible foundation."
02 In Reality: Accelerating AI Implementation, Bringing Technology into Society, Homes, and Factories
After laying a solid foundation, the harder test is how to get AI out of the exhibition booth and into the real world. During my visit to the Wuzhen booth and explorations in Zhejiang, I found that China Mobile's push for AI implementation is not just blooming in isolated spots but is being rolled out synchronously across multiple levels, including social governance, emergency protection, transportation, education, homes, and factories.
First, in the field of social governance, AI is shifting from "post-event handling" to "proactive prevention and control." For example, regarding urban lifelines, Ningbo Mobile relies on 5G-A to achieve full coverage of comprehensive utility tunnels, meeting the high-reliability and low-latency requirements for underground communications and real-time image transmission for inspection robots.
Another example is public safety: the Jiaxing Anti-Fraud Big Data Platform, leveraging China Mobile's computing network foundation, big data, and AI capabilities, has broken down data silos between multiple departments. The platform coordinates with 37 anti-fraud member units, connects to 78 data source systems, and aggregates and integrates 3 billion pieces of cross-domain data.
Since its implementation, the platform has achieved a year-on-year decrease of 9.28% in annual telecom fraud cases citywide. Simultaneously, it intercepted over 2.8 million fraudulent SMS messages, over 138,000 fraudulent calls, and 135 million malicious URLs, saving the public a cumulative CNY 380 million.
The Diting Anti-Fraud System built by China Mobile enables pre-event perception, precise judgment, and full-chain prevention and control of fraud. As of September 2026, the number of fraud cases in governed areas decreased by20.39% year-on-year, case losses dropped by 30.36% year-on-year, and it assisted in stopping more than 15 cases involving amounts exceeding CNY 1 million.
Second, in the field of emergency protection, China Mobile has developed a full-chain digital intelligent solution for "AI + Emergency Response" centered around three major scenarios: safe production, disaster prevention and mitigation, and emergency rescue.
On the safe production side, China Mobile's "Fire Eye Sentinel" has served over 30,000 enterprises in Zhejiang, identifying over 70 real fire risks. The "Electrical Safety Steward" can identify more than 10 types of electrical hazards and has cumulatively discovered over 1,000 major hidden dangers.
On the disaster prevention and mitigation side, China Mobile utilizes 5G base stations as part-time weather observation stations to achieve kilometer-level and minute-level short-term heavy rainfall predictions. Its self-developed flood and typhoon prevention platform assisted in transferring over 2 million people during Typhoon "Baihaitun" (White Dolphin)'s impact on Zhejiang. Additionally, it jointly developed the nation's first embodied intelligent robot for flood and typhoon prevention, named "Flood Prevention Warrior."
On the emergency rescue side, China Mobile leverages integrated space-air-ground emergency communication capabilities to build a command platform coordinating manned and unmanned aircraft, opening up the "lifeline" for emergency rescue.
Third, in the field of smart transportation, along the Tongxiang section of National Highway G320, 5G-A signals weave an invisible network. Roadside equipment and drones work in tandem "air + ground," with dynamic green wave systems expected to improve traffic efficiency on pilot sections by over 15%. V2X companion services proactively push upcoming traffic light status and accident warnings to vehicles.
Fourth, in the field of smart education, at the Modern Campus of Mao Dun Experimental Primary School in Tongxiang, Jiaxing, I observed that in the AI Innovation Lab, multi-legged bionic robots programmed by students could walk and stop. Model training was completed in the cloud, while inference was handled at edge nodes closest to the children, ensuring data did not leave the campus and responses occurred within milliseconds.
Fifth, in the field of smart homes, China Mobile's "Lingxi Home Intelligent Agent" centers on the home, focusing on the elderly and children, connecting user needs across three generations, terminal devices from different manufacturers, and home scenarios.
The upgraded Lingxi Screen features smoother multi-turn chat, autonomous task planning, and built-in fallback replies. For example, if a user says, "Book a flight, change to high-speed rail, book a hotel, buy tickets," the agent can execute these steps sequentially and automatically identify scenarios such as movies, music, and home control. Furthermore, combined with personal health records, the agent can provide analysis and wellness/fitness plans for health issues like blood sugar levels.
Sixth, in the field of smart factories, at Minth Group's workshop in Jiaxing, I saw industrial humanoid robots stretching their arms to autonomously complete material picking, posture adjustment, high-precision clamping, and machine tool linkage processing. They can quickly switch production when changing component types. This allows enterprises to bid farewell to the predicament of "stopping lines for model switching."
According to staff, this future factory featuring "5G + Embodied Intelligent Robots" relies on the millisecond-level low-latency foundation provided by Zhejiang Mobile's 5G Industrial Private Network. The project won the National First Prize in the Embodied Intelligence track of the 9th "Blossom Cup" 5G Application Contest.
Supporting broader manufacturing behind industrial intelligence is China Mobile's "Mobile Tiangong" Industrial Internet Platform. This platform covers 41 major industrial categories, serves over 300,000 enterprises, and has surpassed 20 million connected devices. For example, at Ningbo Zhenhai Refining & Chemical, "AI + Equipment Intelligent Maintenance" based on this platform reduces maintenance frequency by 30%, while "AI + Intelligent Inspection" replaces human patrols for plant-wide pipe racks, increasing inspection frequency by 50%.
From society to homes and then to factories, the path chosen by China Mobile for driving AI implementation is not one of "concept demonstrations" but of "deep scenario cultivation." China Mobile ensures every AI application addresses real pain points and delivers real benefits. This is its greatest distinction from mere "tech showing off."
Author's Observation: Moving from "Connectivity Dividend" to "Intelligence Dividend"
Based on what I saw and heard during the Wuzhen Conference, I found that the core of China Mobile's answer lies not in how dazzling individual technologies are, but in bridging the complete industrial logic between "foundation building" and "implementation." I have three insights.
Insight One: This is "Dual-Wheel Drive," Not Two Disconnected Tracks. Foundation building and scenario implementation are not parallel lines but a mutually reinforcing closed loop. Using applications to promote construction, and using construction to drive applications—this cyclical model has become a unique path for telecom operators entering the AI race.
Insight Two: Shifting from "Booth Performances" to "Real-World Answers." While 6G prototypes and direct satellite connections are cutting-edge, quantifiable results such as improved maintenance efficiency at Zhenhai Refining & Chemical and optimized traffic efficiency on national highways carry more weight. This expo showed the industry that technology has moved beyond demonstration booths to deliver measurable industrial value.
Insight Three: Telecom Operators Are Completing a Shift in Identity. From China Mobile's series of measures, it is evident that it has transitioned from solely providing communication services to providing communication, computing, and intelligent services. This is precisely the difference in value that the intelligent internet brings to operators compared to the traditional internet.
Under the wave of the intelligent internet, computing networks are the root. From the practices in Wuzhen, we can see that China's telecommunications industry, represented by China Mobile, is steadily moving from the "connectivity dividend" to the "intelligence dividend," expecting to continue delivering solid digital value to thousands of industries.
Building the computing network foundation is not the end goal; enabling AI to take root cost-effectively and securely across thousands of industries is the true major exam of the intelligent era. Clearly, China Mobile has taken a firm first step.