Over the past five years of the "Two Zones" (the Integrated National Demonstration Zone for Opening up the Services Sector and the China (Beijing) Pilot Free Trade Zone) initiative, Beijing has steadily advanced its efforts to become a global benchmark city for the digital economy. The city has made notable progress in reform and innovation within key sectors of the digital economy, the industrial ecosystem cultivation, and the technological integration and application.

As the capital of China, Beijing actively promotes the development of the information and telecommunications industry to secure a leading position in this strategic sector. According to statistics, Beijing has established a total of 143,900 5G base stations, ranking first nationwide in the number of 5G base stations per 10,000 people. Currently, 16,000 5G-A base stations have been built across the city, ensuring continuous coverage within the Fifth Ring Road, the Beijing Municipal Administrative Center, and key urban areas. Over 1,000 residential communities now support 10-gigabit network access. Beijing consistently ranks among the top performers nationwide in the access performance index for end-users to major international websites.

Since the launch of the "Two Zones" initiative, the Beijing International Data Exchange has actively promoted the high-quality development of data markets[3] . In recent years, data transaction volumes at the Exchange have grown rapidly, with cumulative transactions reaching 2,250 terabytes and an average annual growth rate exceeding 200 percent over the past three years.

Telecommunications services have also seen further opening up. To date, ten foreign-funded enterprises in Beijing have been approved for pilot operations in value-added telecommunications services, accounting for 40 percent of the national total. These companies are mostly China-based subsidiaries of well-known multinational corporations, with capital originating from Europe, the Americas, and the Asia-Pacific region. They are allowed to operate as wholly foreign-owned entities in piloting services such as internet access, online data processing, and transaction processing.

(Source: Beijing Daily)