The number of 5G users in China’s capital in Beijing has reached the 2 million threshold after Chinese telecom operators launched 5G commercial services more than five months ago, Chinese press reported, citing data from Beijing’s municipal government.
As of March 30, a total of 17,744 5G base stations had been deployed across Beijing, according to the report.
The local municipal government also predicted that the number of 5G base stations in Beijing would exceed 30,000 by the end of this year, and 5G indoor coverage equipment would be installed in 5,000 buildings across the city.
According to the report, the Beijing branch of China Unicom has the biggest share of 5G users, with more than 1 million, followed by China Mobile’s Beijing branch, with 727,900 users, and China Telecom’s Beijing branch, with 253,000.
Operators have applied 5G technology in a wide range of fields, such as internet education, online healthcare, HD videos, internet games, remote work, community management, streaming services and manufacturing.
In related news, China Unicom Beijing and Huawei signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the “5G Capital” joint innovation project. The project aims to improve 5G networks for both users and industries across Beijing.
Based on this project, the two companies will further 5G technological innovation and 5G rapid commercial adoption.
According to the “5G Capital” MoU, China Unicom Beijing and Huawei will conduct pilot programs for six innovative solutions, explore value monetization of four 5G smart services, and implement two major showcase projects in 2020. Both parties will collaborate closely to improve the end to end 5G models from applications, terminals, networks, and businesses.
The two parties will continue to improve 5G networks and services through the pilot programs for six innovative solutions. In the first year of 5G commercial adoption, China Unicom Beijing has brought 5G services to a number of landmark buildings in Beijing. These include the 2019 International Horticultural Exhibition parks, China Media Group’s headquarters towers, and the National Stadium, better known as Bird’s Nest.
The two companies will collaborate to implement commercial adoption of a variety of products. These include the ultra-bandwidth 5G LampSite, 5G Indoor Distributed Massive MIMO, LampSite EE, Super Uplink, 8T8R Easy Macro, and 5G SA slicing technologies based on 5G macro, pole, and indoor solutions. This will offer extra advantages for China Unicom Beijing to construct dual Gigabit networks in both indoor and outdoor scenarios and provide users with faster and better 5G services of greater diversity, the partners added.
“We initiated the 5G NEXT program in 2018 to accelerate 5G ecosystem development. As of April 7, 2020, China Unicom Beijing has gained more than one million 5G users, and Beijing has become the first city to see 5G user numbers exceed one million. This proves that our earlier 5G strategies have achieved their expected results,” said Yang Lifan, deputy general manager of China Unicom Beijing. “At present, the government is vigorously promoting new infrastructure. China Unicom Beijing will seize this opportunity to make new breakthroughs. In 2020, we will work with Huawei in implementing the ‘5G Capital’ Joint Innovation project, taking 5G development in Beijing to new heights.”
