Build a poverty alleviation network and an information bridge

?#xa0; In 2013, the State Council issued the "Broadband China" Strategy and Implementation Plan, proposing to "improve the compensation mechanism for universal telecommunications services and form a long-term mechanism to support broadband development in rural areas and central and western regions". In order to implement this mechanism, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Finance jointly launched discussions and studies to measure the cost of rural network construction in remote areas.
　　In more than a year, the comrades of the Information and Communication Development Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology went deep into rural areas for investigation, carefully compared foreign construction models, repeatedly demonstrated, overturned one scheme after another, and finally put forward the practice of adopting the telecom universal service compensation mechanism.In October, 2015, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Finance jointly established a new telecom universal service mechanism of "central fund guidance, local coordination and support, and enterprise subject promotion", which officially kicked off the pilot work of telecom universal service.
　　"The working mechanism of telecom universal service has fully mobilized the enthusiasm of basic telecom enterprises and promoted the construction funds of enterprises with limited government funds." Ocean Lu introduced that more than one-third of the construction tasks of universal telecommunications services are in poor areas, where transportation is inconvenient and people are scattered, and the network construction cost of basic telecommunications enterprises remains high and the rate of return is extremely low. Relevant calculations show that the static investment return period in many places exceeds 50 years. "If we proceed from the enterprise’s own benefits, the network construction of administrative villages in these remote areas is easy to be’ left behind’, but with the universal service mechanism of telecommunications, enterprises are guided to’ match fat and thin in their own plates’, and while vigorously promoting the network construction of cities, we must ensure the network construction of rural areas, especially poor villages."
　　事实证明，电信普遍服务机制创新是成功的。在机制的有效指引下，基础电信企业积极履行央企担当，大力推进电信普遍服务试点，在一个个“极限地区”铺光缆、建基站、架天线，将千千万万个信息闭塞、经济落后的村庄连入现代数字社会。

搭建平台，让大数据说话

　 “请大家看看这张电子地图，上面闪动着无数个小黄点，每一个小黄点就代表一个通了光纤的行政村。”在工业和信息化部近期主办的“电信普遍服务助力脱贫攻坚展”上，很多观众被讲解员提到的电子地图吸引。原来，这是网络发展处指导中国信息通信研究院搭建的电信普遍服务管理支撑平台的现场演示。

　　电信普遍服务管理支撑平台，俗称“点亮工程”，充分利用技术手段对试点工作进行集中管理。简单说来，平台让电信普遍服务工作“可视、可管、可控”。一方面，平台可以实时显示试点行政村宽带开通情况，对试点行政村宽带网络建设状况精准管理。另一方面，平台对试点地区宽带网络持续开展速率测试，确保了工程建设质量。此外，平台还能够准确识别国家建档立卡贫困村信息，为网络扶贫和精准脱贫提供有力支撑。
　　"To build this platform, our initial intention or goal is very clear, that is, we hope to ensure that the hard-won telecom universal service subsidy funds can be implemented." Ocean Lu said that at the beginning of the pilot project of telecom universal service, considering the large number of pilot administrative villages, many of which are remote and inconvenient in transportation, it would be inefficient and costly to rely solely on manpower, and only a few administrative villages could be verified. Therefore, the Network Development Department changed its thinking and tried to build a telecom universal service management platform by using the new generation information and communication technologies such as big data.
　　"The process of building the platform is quite smooth. The most difficult task is actually to find out the list of national administrative villages in the previous period." In response to the reporter’s question about the difficulties in building the platform, Ocean Lu began to recall. "Administrative villages are grassroots mass autonomous organizations. At that time, there was no complete and accurate list in the country. We could only organize local basic telecommunications enterprises to’ go down’ to the pilot administrative villages for verification based on the preliminary list of the National Bureau of Statistics and relying on the communications administrations all over the country."
　　Speaking of this, Zhou Guodong, the network development department, is quite touched. He said that at that time, the whole industry encountered many challenges in promoting this work. Take ethnic minority areas as an example. The names of villages on the list are in Chinese, but in local areas, people are more accustomed to using village names in ethnic minority languages, and it is necessary to send special personnel to check them repeatedly. And sometimes, in the same area, there will be village names with the same pronunciation and different words, which need to be checked on the spot. "In this process, local communication administrations, China ICT Institute and basic telecommunications enterprises have undertaken a lot of work and made important contributions." He stressed.
　　It is with this "realistic" working attitude that the telecom universal service management platform "finds out" a highly accurate list of administrative villages in China. Based on this list, once the employees of the basic telecommunications enterprises have completed the optical fiber construction of an administrative village, they can upload data through the mobile phone APP, and the platform will "light up" the administrative village on the electronic map after checking the data correctly. "Of course, we have also set up many safeguard mechanisms to avoid information errors and artificial fraud, and fully guarantee the accuracy of data." Ocean Lu added.
　　The effective promotion of the pilot work of telecom universal service can not be separated from careful supervision. In the past few years, the leaders of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology have made many field investigations and inspected related work. "In the investigation and inspection, the leaders asked everyone to go to remote and hard places as much as possible, so as to truly verify the effectiveness of the universal service of telecommunications." Zhou Guodong said.
　　In 2019, the working group of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology went to Reskamu Village, Dabdar Township, Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous County, Kashgar, Xinjiang, to investigate the construction of local rural networks. "From Beijing to this village, it took nearly two days, and I changed to a flight in the middle. After getting off the plane, I have to drive for nearly ten hours to arrive. Among them, a long section of the road was not hardened, and it was all gravel. Two cars burst one after another. At night, there was no hotel in the village. Everyone temporarily found a place to stay and slept in bunk beds. " Ocean Lu told reporters about such an unforgettable experience. It is in such an extremely remote border village that the optical fiber network is smoothly accessible and the village also has 4G signals.
　　Today, the battle against poverty has achieved a comprehensive victory, and the online poverty alleviation work has also achieved impressive results. For the next step, Zhu Gang said, "We will continue to promote the universal service of telecommunications, do a good job in effectively connecting the achievements of consolidating poverty alleviation with rural revitalization, and constantly improve the level of information infrastructure in rural and remote areas, so that farmers can make good use of various smart applications and enjoy a new life in digital villages on the basis of’ using’ and’ affordable’ networks!"

(from the work letter micro-newspaper)