BMW, China Unicom step up cooperation into 5G business

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- BMW China Automotive Trading Ltd. announced on July 10 it has forged partnership with China Unicom for 5G mobile communication business, making it the first global automaker that teams up with the state-owned mobile carrier on 5G mobile network services.

Under the cooperation agreement, the German auto giant will make joint efforts with China Unicom to test and develop autonomous vehicles based on 5G mobile communication networks. Besides, experimental 5G networks will be jointly built by both parties in a bid to explore the applications for autonomous vehicles in various scenarios.

Besides, starting July 2021, part of BMW's new models to be sold in China will be given access to China Unicom’s 5G mobile networks, which may enable applications featuring stricter and more complex technical standards and more data to come true.

The collaboration between two parties could date back to 2012, involving such projects as running BMW’s call centers and on-line stores in China powered by 3G and 4G technologies.

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on June 6 issued the first batch of 5G licenses to four companies—China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom and China Broadcasting Network Corporation Ltd (CBN), marking a significant step for China’s efforts to deploy and popularize 5G technology.

Focusing on fields such as industrial Internet, IoT (Internet of Things) and IoV (Internet of Vehicles), companies should actively foster the integrated application and innovative development of 5G based on the market need and their own business growth, so as to boost digitalization, connectivity and intelligence development for each industry, said Miao Wei, Minister of the MIIT.

China is projected to become the world's largest 5G market by 2025, with around 460 million 5G users, according to a forecast released by the Global System for Mobile Communications Association.