On the morning of August 21, the BIRTV thematic report session was held at the Beijing Hotel. The event focused on discussions surrounding 4K ultra-high-definition production and broadcasting, integrated media, IP-based workflows in content creation, and film technology. During the session, Academician Hequan Wu from the Chinese Academy of Engineering delivered a keynote speech titled "Mobile Multimedia in the 5G Era."

1. Video streaming becomes the core of online business
As technology advances, global internet speeds continue to rise. In 2017, China’s mobile broadband connection speeds increased by 61% compared to 2016. By the second quarter of 2018, 3G connection speeds reached 9.32 Mbps, while 4G topped at 20.22 Mbps. On the mobile internet front, China’s average monthly data usage per user in 2017 was 1.777 GB—2.3 times higher than in 2016—and now matches the global average. As of June 2018, the average household in China was consuming over 4.24 GB of mobile internet data per month, representing a year-on-year growth of 172.8%. Meanwhile, in the first half of 2018, total mobile internet data consumption surged to 26.6 billion GB, up an impressive 199.6% from the same period the previous year. Clearly, the rapid evolution of internet infrastructure cannot be overlooked. Moreover, with faster networks driving adoption, more than 70% of Chinese internet and mobile internet users now engage with online video content, making video streaming an increasingly dominant force in digital services.
2. Development and Challenges of Mobile Multimedia Services
Meanwhile, with the advancement of technology, cutting-edge innovations like 4K, VR, AR, and MR have made stunning debuts, bringing even more excitement to the broadcasting and media industry. It’s reported that the number of globally connected 4K TVs is growing steadily each year—by 2021, 56% of all internet-connected TVs worldwide were already ultra-high-definition models. As for VR headsets, their adoption rate has surged dramatically, rising from 18 million units in 2016 to nearly 100 million by 2021. Meanwhile, VR-related data traffic is on track to skyrocket—from 13.3 PB per month in 2016 to an impressive 140 PB per month by 2021, representing a remarkable 11-fold increase. Although VR currently accounts for just 0.29% of global mobile data traffic, its annual growth rate remains exceptionally high at 60%, far outpacing the average growth of mobile data streams. On the other hand, AR business traffic has also seen significant growth, expanding from 3 PB per month in 2016 to 20 PB per month in 2021—a sevenfold increase. While AR still makes up less than 0.5% of global mobile data usage, it continues to grow at a robust pace, with an annual rise of 46%. It’s worth noting that both AR and VR demand robust capabilities in data transmission, storage, and computing. To deliver immersive gaming experiences, advanced modeling, real-time rendering, and seamless content downloads, these technologies require massive bandwidths ranging from 100 Mbps to as high as 9.4 Gbps. As these technologies evolve and gain traction, they’re placing ever-increasing demands on broadband infrastructure to keep up with the growing need for speed and capacity.
In the 4G era, mobile multimedia was delivered using unicast distribution. However, with the rapid growth of mobile video traffic, this approach has placed significant strain on cellular mobile communication systems, leading to low spectrum efficiency. To address these challenges, Wu Hequan proposed an improved strategy: distributing popular mobile video content via broadcast/multicast methods, while reserving unicast for less-in-demand or niche mobile video content. Looking ahead, the future will see a hybrid approach—combining unicast and multicast for video delivery—enabling optimized and efficient video transmission.
At the event, Hequan Wu explained that broadcast-based mobile multimedia has three key application scenarios: 1. Media and entertainment services, including hybrid TV broadcasting, 4K/8K, 3D/video with multiple perspectives, AR/VR/MR broadcasting, and real-time production of radio and television programs. 2. Emergency broadcasting services, primarily focusing on nationwide, regional, and local multi-media public alert systems. 3. Connected-car and IoT services. Specifically, connected-car applications encompass road safety and traffic navigation, autonomous driving services, as well as in-vehicle infotainment offerings. Meanwhile, IoT solutions cover large-scale file transfers for IoT devices, batch upgrades of IoT software/hardware, and universal control signaling and message distribution. In this area, one of the main challenges we face is balancing the need for high signal-to-noise ratio and wide bandwidth required by fixed, high-definition large-screen receivers with the compact antennas and mobility demands of small-screen, mobile devices.
Facing the challenge, Ou Hequan proposed a solution involving the transmission of two video streams with higher resolution, greater dynamic range, and an expanded color gamut. One stream would be robust yet lower in bitrate, carrying the core video content, while the other would be less robust but offer enhanced details at a higher data rate. To address this issue, two solutions are available: First, TFS—Time-Frequency Slicing—where data streams are transmitted either via Time Division Multiplexing (TDM), alternating between time slots, or by assigning specific OFDM carriers to different data sets (FDM). Alternatively, there’s LDM—Layered Division Multiplexing—enabling the simultaneous transmission of two or more data streams within a single channel.
3. 5G Supports Mobile Multimedia Technology
Academician Wu Hequan introduced the following aspects regarding how 5G supports mobile multimedia technologies:

1. Broadband Mobile Internet

2. Cloud-based Communication Technologies – 5G Cloud and Mobile Edge Computing

3. L1.5 Flexible Ethernet Technology – Enabling High-Bandwidth, Low-Latency Forwarding

4. L3 Connection-Oriented Packet Communication Technology – Source-Selected Optimized Packet Forwarding

5. Network Virtualization Technology – Network Service Slicing

6. Internet-based Service Architecture (SBA) – API-driven Business Management Features

7. Integration of 5G Mobile Networks with Broadband Networks

During the speech, Ou Hequan stated: "With the advancement of 5G technology, truly enabling multicast and broadcast requires the integration of 5G with broadcasting and television networks—this presents both challenges and vast opportunities for innovation."