The Inner Mongolia autonomous region has intensified construction of information infrastructure and promoted innovative use of data resources since it was approved by the central government in October 2016 to be a national pilot area for big data development, local officials said.

Related infrastructure has been improved in Inner Mongolia, with optical cable length totaling 580,000 kilometers, officials at the autonomous region's big data development management bureau said.

Inner Mongolia's fixed broadband network covers more than 16.76 million households, while 11.29 million families have access to optical fibers. Its mobile communication stations amount to 116,300, among which 47,000 are 4G stations.

The region has developed big data centers in Hohhot, capital of the region, and Baotou, Erdos, Chifeng and Ulanqab, local officials said.

Basic databases relating to the economy, population, geography and culture have been built. Different areas, departments and industries in the region can share information regarding taxation, quality supervision, industry and commerce administration.

Basic data platforms in the fields of public security, civil affairs, weather, education, food traceability and the Mongolian language have been built. Local authorities have accumulated plenty of data resources, officials from the big data bureau said.

They said Inner Mongolia has become more capable of applying big data to social governance and public services. Internet-plus government services have improved and Hohhot and Wuhai have been named national demonstration cities for internet-plus government service.

Local authorities have also implemented big data projects to benefit residents' lives, such as smart transportation, communities, medical treatment and education. Hohhot, Baotou, Erdos, Wuhai and Hulunbuir have become national pilot smart cities.

Big data services provided by local governments include e-police platforms and digital libraries. Such services are still enriched to benefit local residents, said officials from the big data bureau.

Big data has also been used in the production and management of the local husbandry sector. Inner Mongolia has built China's first product quality traceability system for the beef and mutton industrial chain.

The autonomous region has steadily promoted big data platforms in dairy production, cattle breeding and traditional Chinese medicinal materials.

Local industries such as telecommunications, finance and transport are using rich data resources to explore customer segmentation, risk prevention and control and credit rating.

Some information service providers came to develop businesses in the region, including Oracle.

Officials said big data parks have been built in the region, such as a national university science park in Hohhot, a high-tech park in Baotou, a cloud computing industrial park in Chifeng and a big data park in Xilin Gol League. Noted internet companies such as Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu have established branches and developed business in the parks.

The region's authorities have promised efforts to boost big data development, including preferential policies relating to infrastructure and resource sharing as well as support in research, finance and personnel training.

The autonomous region's government has set aside 2 billion yuan ($295.2 million) as a big data industry development fund, and it is expected to bring in business investment worth 10 billion yuan to the industry.

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