China will accelerate construction of low-Earth-orbit satellite internet systems and integrate satellite networks more closely with terrestrial communications infrastructure under its 15th Five-Year Plan, including the development of direct-to-device satellite services and satellite Internet of Things applications. The space-based network will form part of a wider program to establish a high-performance national communications system by 2030.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology outlined the priorities at the China International Information and Communications Exhibition on September 24. China plans to deploy communications infrastructure moderately ahead of demand while coordinating satellite constellations, terrestrial networks, international connectivity and computing resources.<\/p>\n
The recently released 15th Five-Year Plan for the information and communications industry calls for China to complete a next-generation network with extensive coverage and advanced performance by the end of 2030. Targets include a 95% 5G adoption rate, 320 million users with gigabit-or-faster broadband and national intelligent computing capacity of 9,800 EFLOPS.<\/p>\n
Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology Yu Xiaohui said the country would systematically advance next-generation communications infrastructure based on application demand. Priorities include moving fixed and mobile broadband toward \u201cdual 10-gigabit\u201d capability, building LEO satellite internet systems and optimizing international terrestrial and subsea communications networks.<\/p>\n
The explicit inclusion of LEO satellite internet places space-based connectivity alongside fiber, mobile communications, subsea cables and computing infrastructure as one component of China\u2019s future information network. Rather than operating as a separate service, satellite connectivity is expected to complement terrestrial coverage and extend communications to areas where conventional infrastructure is unavailable, uneconomic or vulnerable to disruption.<\/p>\n
Under the plan, China will promote deeper integration between satellite and terrestrial communications networks. This will involve connecting satellite services with existing mobile and data networks so users and industrial terminals can access communications across different infrastructure layers.<\/p>\n
Direct-to-device satellite communications are one of the applications identified for development. The technology allows ordinary or specially adapted mobile devices to connect directly to satellites, reducing dependence on dedicated satellite terminals. Initial services commonly focus on emergency messaging and low-data-rate connectivity, while broader voice and data services require additional satellite capacity, compatible spectrum and closer integration with mobile operators.<\/p>\n
Satellite IoT is another priority. Such networks can connect sensors and equipment distributed across oceans, deserts, mountains and other areas beyond reliable cellular coverage. Potential applications include tracking ships and vehicles, monitoring energy and transport infrastructure, collecting environmental data and connecting remote industrial assets.<\/p>\n
Building an operational LEO satellite internet system involves more than deploying satellites. Large constellations also depend on launch capacity, high-throughput satellite manufacturing, gateway stations, user terminals, spectrum coordination and continuous constellation replenishment. Integration with terrestrial operators will additionally require common technical standards, service management and reliable handover between satellite and ground networks.<\/p>\n
China had deployed 5.154 million 5G base stations by the end of July 2026, while 10-gigabit optical networks had entered limited deployment. National intelligent computing capacity reached 2,185 EFLOPS, meaning the 2030 target would require capacity to increase to approximately 4.5 times that level.<\/p>\n
The plan also calls for the development of 6G base stations and stronger standards in computing networks, quantum communications and other priority fields. Satellite-terrestrial integration is expected to become an important element of that standardization work as future mobile systems expand from ground-based coverage toward networks spanning land, sea, air and space.<\/p>\n
China\u2019s next phase of communications development will therefore combine terrestrial broadband expansion with LEO constellation deployment, direct-to-device services and satellite IoT. The program\u2019s progress through 2030 will depend on whether these individual systems can be connected into a unified network capable of delivering continuous coverage and allocating communications and computing resources across regions.<\/p>\n
As China expands its satellite manufacturing and communications infrastructure, international customers can gain access to increasingly competitive satellite, payload and AIT capabilities from the country\u2019s industrial supply chain. Organizations planning constellations or sourcing space hardware can contact STARPATH GLOBAL<\/a> to assess technical requirements, supplier options and cost-effective solutions for their missions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" China will accelerate construction of low-Earth-orbit satellite internet systems and integrate satellite networks more closely with terrestrial communications infrastructure under its 15th Five-Year Plan, including the development of direct-to-device satellite services and satellite Internet of Things applications. The space-based network will form part of a wider program to establish a high-performance national communications system by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":90101,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[50,5816,135,5771,454,5744,10526,4362,6876],"class_list":["post-90100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-5g","tag-6g","tag-china","tag-communications-infrastructure","tag-direct-to-device","tag-low-earth-orbit","tag-ministry-of-industry-and-information-technology","tag-satellite-internet","tag-satellite-iot"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90100"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90100"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90103,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90100\/revisions\/90103"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}