China’s capital Beijing has already deployed a total of 21,086 5G base stations, Chinese news service Xinhua reported.
The number of 5G users in the city has exceeded 3.1 million since Beijing officially kicked off commercial 5G services in 2019, according to the Beijing Municipal Communications Administration.
The Beijing branches of China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom, the first batch of companies that obtained the 5G licenses, have already applied 5G technology in over 1,000 projects in the fields of industrial manufacturing, transportation and logistics, commerce and trade, and education and healthcare, Xinhua reported.
According to the report, Beijing has put 3,729 5G base stations into operation so far this year.
Beijing’s municipal government had previously predicted that the number of 5G base stations in the city 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.
Other large cities across China have also been accelerating plans to expand 5G infrastructure.
The municipal government of Shenzhen city recently announced plans to deploy a total of 30,000 new 5G base stations during 2020. According to local municipal authorities, this deployment will allow Chinese carriers to provide full 5G coverage across Shenzhen.
As of the end of last year, Shenzhen had a total of 15,500 5G base stations, which enabled carriers to provide the technology in key areas across the city, according to the Shenzhen Industrial and Information Technology Bureau.
Shenzhen, a southern tech hub in Guangdong Province, is one of the first pilot cities of the 5G network in China.
Meanwhile, Shanghai has previously stated its commitment to investing CNY 10 billion ($1.4 billion) in 5G network construction this year, with the city anticipating 30,000 outdoor 5G base stations and 50,000 indoor small stations built by the end of 2020.
Chinese mobile operators are expected to deploy over 600,000 5G base stations by the end of the year, covering cities above the prefecture level in the country, Chinese press reported.
China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom have already built more than 250,000 5G base stations across China, said Lu Chuncong, deputy director of the Information and Communications Administration of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).
In June 2019, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) officially issued licenses for the launch of commercial 5G networks in the country. Those 5G permits were granted to China Mobile, China Unicom, China Telecom and state-owned broadcaster China Broadcasting Network.
It is forecasted that 28% of China’s mobile connections will be running on 5G networks by 2025, accounting for about one-third of all 5G connections globally, according to a previous report by the GSMA.
