Nestled between mountains and sea, Liaoning province faces dual challenges: overcoming communication hurdles in its island and border regions while meeting the digital transformation needs of its traditional industrial base. The question of how to deploy high-quality, stable communication networks across this historic industrial landscape to inject digital intelligence into industrial revitalization has been addressed through a coordinated "Signal Enhancement" initiative. This campaign involves telecom operators, government departments at all levels, and industry stakeholders working in concert. Efforts focus on tackling the hard tasks of covering signal-weak areas like islands and borders while simultaneously creating new digital application scenarios in key sectors such as industry, agriculture, and cultural tourism. This approach not only achieves a comprehensive upgrade in communication network quality but also explores a new digital development path tailored for the transformation of old industrial bases.
A recent on-site investigation assessed the implementation results of the "Signal Enhancement, Seamless Liaoning" campaign across various locations, including islands, commercial districts, subways, factories, and sports venues. The initiative is noted to have moved beyond the singular logic of basic infrastructure like erecting base stations. Instead, it has pivoted towards a deeper digital transformation encompassing coverage, perception, industry, governance, and public welfare, thereby laying a solid foundation of new-generation information infrastructure for the comprehensive revitalization of Northeast China.
Islands and Border Areas Emerge from "Signal Isolation"
While communication upgrades often focus on urban cores, Liaoning's first priority in network construction has been its most challenging land and sea boundaries. As one of China's few provinces with both land and sea borders, its 2,244-kilometer coastline, scattered islands, and remote border villages have long suffered from high construction costs, difficult maintenance, and unstable signals.
Traveling by boat to the Changhai Islands reveals a vast expanse of blue sea. In the past, mobile signals would vanish just a few kilometers offshore, making tasks like fishing operations and online sales a distant hope. This stark contrast between past and present was a key observation during the visit to these border islands. Changhai County, the nation's only island border county, has historically struggled with maritime communication due to its vast sea area, dispersed islands, and equipment erosion from sea winds, which kept construction and maintenance costs high.
A representative from China Unicom's Liaoning branch explained the difficulties of laying submarine optical cables in the Changhai sea area. The company overcame challenges like weak island power supply and typhoon damage by deploying 2.1G 8TR ultra-long-range coverage technology paired with high-gain directional antennas. This extended the coverage radius, progressively filling signal blind spots island by island, and for the first time achieved stable, continuous signal coverage up to 50 kilometers offshore, ensuring "optimal coastal experience, stable nearshore signals, and reliable far-sea connectivity."
Staff from China Telecom Liaoning added that construction teams worked around the clock during favorable weather, carrying equipment to island peaks to erect base stations. They established a 2.1G+3.5G multi-frequency collaborative communication network, supported by submarine optical cables and cross-sea microwave transmission, completely breaking the information isolation of the islands.
On one island, a rural homestay operator was seen live-streaming the layout of his property via mobile phone, with real-time comments and order notifications constantly appearing. "Before, we relied solely on word-of-mouth from repeat guests. Now, with China Mobile's stable, high-speed maritime network, we can live-stream sales and promote our sea-view rooms online. Our live stream maintains high popularity year-round, and bookings typically need to be made at least a week in advance," he said with a smile.
The efforts extend beyond Changhai County. Xu Jicheng, Deputy Director of the Liaoning Communications Administration, stated that over the past two years, the province's foundational infrastructure has been continuously strengthened. The number of 5G base stations per 10,000 people reached 37.8, exceeding the national average. The province has built 8,277 5G-Advanced base stations and achieved full township coverage with 65,700 lightweight RedCap base stations. Gaps in land and sea border areas have been comprehensively addressed, with 26 border counties, 44 inhabited islands, and the entire 2,244-kilometer coastline now covered by 5G, and continuous network coverage established along maritime routes. Additionally, 6,323 weak coverage points such as underground garages and elevators have been upgraded, achieving a 96% network coverage rate in underground spaces.
5G-Advanced Unlocks Urban Digital Vitality for Tourism and Culture
Areas with dense crowds, such as commercial districts, scenic spots, and large sports venues, serve as "pressure tests" for network capacity and are also key sites for deploying 5G-Advanced technology in Liaoning. All seven 5A-level scenic areas, six UNESCO World Heritage sites, and 180 key 4A-level and above scenic spots in the province have achieved deep 5G network coverage.
Shenyang's Zhongjie, with its 400-year commercial history, can see instantaneous passenger flow peaks of 40,000. Previously, simultaneous live streaming and mobile payments by tourists during holidays often led to network congestion. Liu Lingling, a network optimization manager for China Mobile's Shenhe district in Shenyang, noted during on-site speed tests: "As a core urban cultural tourism landmark, Zhongjie experiences highly concentrated holiday crowds, creating immense concurrent pressure from short videos and live streams. We deployed 5G-Advanced integrated computing base stations with embedded intelligent computing boards for edge computing, pioneering multi-cell joint intelligent networking nationwide. This has increased live stream uplink speeds by 37.41%. After the upgrade, the proportion of 1080P HD short video viewing increased by 11.8%. Tourists and streamers can now share Liaoning's scenery anytime, anywhere without lag, using quality networks to boost tourism visibility and attract visitors to the city."
China Unicom's Liaoning branch has activated 5G-Advanced across the entire Dalian Xinghai Square, integrating a 200MHz ultra-large spectrum bandwidth to achieve downlink peak speeds of up to 2Gbps. Coupled with AI computing boards that intelligently identify high-uplink-demand services like live streaming, the network remains smooth even with hundreds of people conducting simultaneous outdoor broadcasts.
China Telecom Liaoning has also implemented continuous 5G-Advanced 200MHz ultra-large bandwidth coverage at Dalian Xinghai Square. This is supported by a multi-layered network guarantee system combining fixed macro stations and emergency communication vehicles, and a 24/7 intelligent network monitoring platform for real-time dynamic resource scheduling. This setup efficiently handles the sudden surge in visitors during events like the beer festival and peak tourist seasons, ensuring smooth, uninterrupted experiences for visitors live streaming, using AR tourism applications, and sharing their visits.
In May of this year, the inaugural "Northeast Super" inter-provincial urban football league kicked off. Venues like Shenyang Tiexi Stadium and Dalian Suoyuwan Football Stadium, with capacities of 40,000 and 60,000 respectively, faced the extreme test of tens of thousands of fans simultaneously uploading pictures, live streaming, and making video calls. Under the coordination of the Liaoning Communications Administration, local telecom operators established an integrated, comprehensive guarantee system. On-site observations at both stadiums revealed full deployment of 5G-Advanced multi-carrier aggregation with AI computing boards for hierarchical scheduling. This precisely matched network resources, boosting on-site user downlink peak speeds by nearly three times compared to conventional solutions. Even with tens of thousands of spectators live streaming, uploading photos, and interacting simultaneously, the network remained smooth.
Furthermore, the event support strategy extended beyond single venues. Network upgrades were simultaneously implemented along subway lines, transportation hubs, and fan gathering areas like Zhongjie and Laobeishi, creating a seamless high-speed network experience for the entire journey of watching games, commuting, and leisure activities. This established a Liaoning model for comprehensive communication support during large-scale cultural and sports events, showcasing modern urban governance through high-quality digital services.
Tunnels and Subways Achieve Ten-Gigabit Digital Speeds
"Before, videos would freeze when the subway entered a tunnel. Now, you can watch 8K live streams smoothly along the entire 16-kilometer line," shared a commuter on the Shenyang Metro Line 1 platform. This line is the Northeast's first 5G-Advanced ten-gigabit metro demonstration route built by China Unicom's Liaoning branch.
Inspections of communication equipment within the tunnels revealed a "5G-Advanced deep penetration + edge intelligent scheduling" system. This system automatically expands capacity based on tidal passenger flow during rush hours, achieving seamless full-frequency coverage across platforms, tunnels, and station halls. The line's peak speed exceeds 10Gbps, enabling smooth cloud office work, HD video calls, and large-scale gaming during commutes.
A subsequent high-speed rail journey on the Harbin-Dalian line, traveling at 350 km/h through mountainous terrain and six tunnels totaling nearly 7 kilometers in length, demonstrated uninterrupted mobile video calls and short video streaming throughout. On-site technicians explained that the line uses a 2.6G+700M dual-frequency network combined with a full-line 2.1GHz large-bandwidth 5G private network. AI-driven millisecond-level bandwidth scheduling has completely eliminated communication blackouts in tunnels, with the line ranking top in four out of five network evaluation metrics among provinces along the Beijing-Harbin high-speed rail corridor.
An official from the Liaoning Provincial Department of Transportation noted that the province is simultaneously addressing communication bottlenecks on highways, national and provincial trunk roads, and ports. Achievements include building the Dalian Port 5G unmanned container truck smart terminal and implementing vehicle-road-cloud integration pilots in Shenyang and Dalian. Future plans involve creating 2,210 kilometers of digital demonstration highway corridors, weaving a high-speed mobile network that connects the province's major transportation arteries.
5G Integrated with AI Activates New Quality Productive Forces
As the cradle of China's industrial sector, Liaoning is deeply promoting the integrated application of 5G, 5G-Advanced, MEC edge computing, and AI large models with real economy scenarios such as equipment manufacturing, mining, marine industries, healthcare, education, agriculture, and the low-altitude economy. This has cultivated a batch of nationally benchmark digital intelligence projects, vividly demonstrating how digital networks can revitalize old industrial bases.
Inside the 5G smart factory of General Technology Shenyang Machine Tool, robotic arms operate in an orderly manner, with staff remotely managing entire production lines via computers. The factory utilizes UPF campus edge technology, processing production data locally within the plant to balance transmission speed with industrial data security. It has been included in the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's national list of 5G factories. Another application, Guoging Power's 5G+machine vision inspection, has improved detection accuracy from 94% to 98%, significantly enhancing product quality control efficiency.
It was noted that China Unicom's Liaoning branch collaborated with a Shenyang automaker as early as 2019 to build the world's first 5G digital factory. The 5G industrial private network covers the entire production process from stamping, welding, and painting to final assembly, implementing over 40 innovative applications and creating core scenarios like 5G+AI quality inspection and intelligent logistics, resulting in six globally leading technological achievements. The low-latency, high-reliability 5G network breaks down data silos within workshops, with intelligent detection replacing manual inspections. The project reportedly saves the enterprise over 20 million yuan annually in costs and efficiency gains, setting an example for the intelligent transformation of Liaoning's equipment manufacturing industry.
The Liaoning Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology disclosed that the province has cultivated 23 national-level and 65 provincial-level 5G factories, with Shenyang becoming a national pilot city for 5G+Industrial Internet. China Unicom's Liaoning branch has implemented over 230 5G factory projects for companies like BMW Brilliance and Ansteel, including building the nation's first automaker digital factory.
The investigation also encountered multifunctional communication towers dotting mountains and coastlines. Jiang Wenjie, Deputy General Manager of China Tower's Liaoning branch, explained that 97% of the province's 67,800 newly built base station sites are shared, significantly reducing redundant construction. Over 5,000 digital towers are equipped with AI algorithms and distributed drone nests, forming an integrated "air-space-ground-sea" perception network. At a coastal monitoring point, drones were observed utilizing tower sites for takeoff and landing, conducting uninterrupted patrols of coastlines, farmland, and mines, while also supporting forest fire prevention and low-altitude supervision, continuously fostering new quality productive forces.
From fishing boats on the blue waves of Changhai to the centuries-old commercial alleys of Shenyang's Zhongjie; from high-speed trains racing along the Harbin-Dalian line to the roaring stadiums of the "Northeast Super" league; from intelligent production lines in Shenyang machine tool workshops to the low-altitude perception networks based on tower sites... the ongoing "Signal Enhancement" practice by Liaoning's communications industry is a vivid microcosm of the Digital China strategy taking root in the Northeast. It represents a grand endeavor to empower comprehensive revitalization through new-generation information infrastructure.