As hundreds of people gathered around a landmark pine in Huangshan, a city in East China's Anhui province, many were seen holding their phones.

Some were livestreaming on the internet, showing off the beautiful scenery to followers, while others were video calling people to share the delights of nature with them, without a single complaint about the mobile phone signal.

The pine tree named Yingkesong, or guest-welcoming pine, is a must-visit spot in the Huangshan Mountain Scenic Area that is now crucially near a 5G-A base station, also known as 5.5G, a mobile communication technology between 5G and 6G.

In April, the Anhui branch of China Mobile opened the city's first 5G-A carrier aggregation demonstration area at the Yingkesong spot.

China entered its first commercial year of 5G-A technology at the beginning of 2024, indicating that this more advanced technology than 5G is starting to be applied on a larger scale, according to China Mobile.

"5G-A is faster, with lower latency and stronger device connectivity than 5G. In the demonstration area, the average download speed for users reaches up to 4 Gb per second, nearly 10 times faster than current 5G speeds," said Wang Chao, network technician from China Mobile's Huangshan branch.

Tao Chunxi, deputy general manager of the comprehensive department of Anhui branch of China Mobile, said more applications are still being explored.

"In the past, it was about waiting for the network to catch up with applications. Applications were mature, but network speed was insufficient," said Tao. "Now, it's about building a more advanced network first to promote the emergence of innovative applications. This is like the relationship between cars and roads. In the past, roads were built after there were many cars. Now, we build the roads first and wait for the cars."

Before the arrival of 5G-A technology, the entire Huangshan Mountain Scenic Area had already constructed 77 5G base stations, achieving complete 5G signal coverage in the whole area.

"So far, we have built nearly 3,000 base stations of 5G in Huangshan, achieving full 5G coverage in key areas such as towns and urban areas, key industrial parks, core scenic spots and major transportation hubs," said Wang Fangsheng, deputy manager of the network department of China Mobile Huangshan branch.

In Qingyang county of neighboring Chizhou, China Mobile's local branch cooperated with the government to create a smart tourism platform. It integrates big data analysis of visitor flow in scenic areas, forming an intelligent management system that can monitor visitor trends in real-time and deeply explore visitor preferences and satisfaction levels.

At the county's cultural and tourism big data command center, real-time visitor numbers for nearly 30 local attractions were shown on a large screen, along with various big data analyses.

"The platform utilizes advanced technologies such as big data and 5G, combined with IoT applications, to achieve precise analysis of the entire county's key tourism spots," said Zhang Bao, general manager of China Mobile's Qingyang branch. "Through the integration, we can further assist in the development decisions of the Qingyang cultural and tourism industry, empowering intelligent promotion and satisfaction improvement in scenic areas."

With the support of China Mobile, the local Jiuziyan Scenic Area has not only improved the accuracy of its marketing and promotions, but also forecasts peak traffic periods for vehicles and enhances visitor satisfaction through big data analysis.

zhulixin@chinadaily.com.cn