Launching ceremonies for five new smart infrastructure projects of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region were held in Nanning, Fangchenggang, and Hechi on April 12, marking the official start of the three-year initiative on the construction of the region's information network.

The five projects include Wuxiang Cloud Computing Data Center, China Telecom ASEAN International Information Park, the 5G network construction project, the information service center of Dongzhong Highway Port, and Bama Digital Town. The total investment of the projects is 14.3 billion yuan ($2.03 billion).

Guangxi launches five digital infrastructure construction projects on April 12. [Photo by Jiang Yao/chinanews.com]

The Cloud Computing Data Center invested by Cloud Valley Technology Co in Wuxiang New District, Nanning aims to gather digital innovation resources, cultivate the digital industry, drive the digital economy, and promote the construction of smart cities by providing cloud services.

The 5G network construction project is conducted by China Mobile. More than 11,000 5G base stations will be built in Guangxi in 2020, covering all 14 cities and important counties in the region. A large-scale data center will be built by Guangxi Mobile in 2021, providing a high-speed internet network serving Guangxi and ASEAN countries. Full coverage of the 5G network will be completed in townships, villages, and high-speed trains by 2022.

Xi Yang, director of the Guangxi Big Data Development Bureau, said that the five projects will further deepen the construction of information and communication infrastructure, expand the influence of the China-ASEAN Information Port, as well as accelerate the digital transformation of economy and society, promoting the vigorous development of big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and other industries.

Guangxi issued an implementation plan for the three-year infrastructure construction on Feb 29, which clarified the local three-year plan to invest 92.1 billion yuan to build 282 projects in total.

In the future, the region will accelerate the development and production of terminals and application products, such as hardware and software, as well as promote the accelerated development of digital construction to build Guangxi into a China-ASEAN big data industrial base.