China focused on 5G for industrial connectivity
China expects to build over 600,000 5G base stations in 2021, Chinese state news service Xinhua reported, citing Xiao Yaqing, minister of industry and information technology.
In 2021, the ministry said it aims to promote the construction of 5G networks and accelerate 5G coverage in major cities and advance co-construction and sharing strategies.
Xiao also said that the government will also focus on 10 key industries as part of the country’s efforts to boost 5G developments.
The ministry will also carry out industrial 5G network pilot projects and also expects to release 5G millimeter wave frequencies, according to the report.
The official said that the government will also focus on increasing the number of gigabit network users to more than 200 million.
Wu Hequan, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, recently estimated that Chinese telecom carriers are likely to build over 1 million new 5G base stations in 2021, as the cost of 5G base stations is expected to go down next year.
Chinese operators have deployed nearly 700,000 new 5G base stations in 2020, in addition to about 100,000 5G base stations built in 2019.
Local carriers already provide 5G coverage in all Chinese cities at prefecture level and above.
To achieve complete 5G coverage, China will need approximately 10 million 5G base stations in total, which will require a total investment of CNY 2 trillion (US$280 billion), according to Zhang Yunyong, president of the China Unicom Research Institute.
Large cities including the capital, Beijing, and Shenzhen already have full 5G coverage and 5G deployments are also accelerating in Shanghai, where mobile carriers have already deployed 25,000 outdoor base stations and 31,000 indoor base stations.
China Mobile, the world’s largest operator in terms of subscribers, added 18.6 million 5G subscribers in November, according to statistics published on the carrier’s website.
The operator said it ended November with a total of 147.38 million 5G subscribers, compared to 6.7 million 5G customers in January.
The carrier has already deployed over 385,000 5G base stations nationwide, according to recent press reports.
Yang Jie, chairman of China Mobile, reportedly said that the carrier finished its annual 5G network build-out targets ahead of schedule and has built the world’s largest 5G SA network.
Meanwhile, rival operator China Telecom added 7.62 million subscribers in November to take its total 5G subscribers base to 79.48 million. The operator has attracted 67.2 million subscribers in the 5G segment since the beginning of the year.
China Unicom hasn’t revealed its 5G numbers.
