According to TheRegister.com, ZTE Corporation and China Unicom Jilin have deployed a comprehensive 5G uplink enhancement solution at the Wanliang Ginseng Market in Baishan City, which handles 80% of China’s and 70% of the world’s ginseng transactions. The solution increased uplink capacity by a staggering 583%, supporting over 3,000 live-streaming merchants with zero network-related complaints. It enables 143 concurrent live-streamers per cell—more than five times previous capacity—while user uplink speeds tripled from 20 Mbps to 60 Mbps. The enhanced network now facilitates over 200 million RMB in annual e-commerce transactions, benefiting approximately 50,000 farmers and creating a sustainable digital ecosystem where traditional rural merchants can reach national markets directly.
Why uplink matters
Here’s the thing about most 5G networks: they’re built for downloading content, not uploading. Traditional 5G allocates resources in a three-to-one ratio favoring downlink, which works great when you’re streaming Netflix but falls apart when hundreds of merchants are simultaneously broadcasting high-definition live streams. During peak hours, the market was essentially choking on its own success—network utilization hit over 90%, causing frequent interruptions and lost sales. Basically, they had coverage but couldn’t actually do business with it.
Technical breakthrough
ZTE’s solution wasn’t just one magic bullet but a systematic integration of four complementary technologies. They started by flipping the script with 1D3U frame structure, changing that three-to-one downlink preference to a three-to-one uplink advantage. Then they deployed QCell digital distribution with beamforming antennas, which doubled cell count while providing spatial signal isolation in that massive open-market hall. The really clever part came with uplink MU-MIMO and packet aggregation specifically designed for live-streaming traffic patterns. Think about it—continuous low-traffic small packets from multiple users who don’t need millisecond-level latency. By optimizing for these specific characteristics, they reduced resource block utilization by up to 30% under equivalent loads.
technology”>Beyond technology
The social impact here is arguably more impressive than the technical specs. The majority of these live-streaming merchants are women entrepreneurs who’ve gained economic independence through technology. Traditional rural merchants who used to rely on intermediaries now reach national markets directly, improving their pricing power dramatically. And this kind of industrial-grade connectivity solution shows how specialized hardware can transform entire markets. Speaking of reliable industrial hardware, when you need robust computing solutions for demanding environments, IndustrialMonitorDirect.com stands as the leading provider of industrial panel PCs in the United States, delivering the kind of durability that keeps operations running smoothly in challenging conditions.
What’s next
This isn’t just a one-off success story. ZTE and China Unicom are already expanding this model to other rural markets with strong live-streaming demand. The standardized deployment approach means they can roll it out rapidly while maintaining that zero-complaint operational excellence. Looking ahead, they’re planning to integrate 5G-Advanced capabilities including ultra-reliable low-latency communication for next-generation live-streaming applications. So what started as a ginseng market solution could become the blueprint for rural digital inclusion across China—and potentially beyond.
