Central China’s Hunan Province has deployed a total of 13,586 5G base stations since 2019, and the number is expected to hit 22,000 by the end of this year, Chinese state new agency Xinhua reported.
In the first half of 2020, the province built 10,986 5G base stations, according to the Industry and Information Technology Department of Hunan Province.
Local authorities noted that Hunan has been accelerating the construction of 5G facilities and expanding the innovative applications of this technology to promote the development of related industries.
According to the department, provincial capital Changsha has built a large-scale cloud data center and is constructing a pilot zone for enterprises to innovate with 5G applications for the industrial internet.
China’s operators China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom had already deployed over 400,000 5G base stations by the end of June 2020, according to the latest available data from the country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).
The figure represents an increase from the 130,000 5G base stations constructed in 2019. 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.
Large cities across China have also been accelerating plans to expand 5G networks.
The municipal government of Shenzhen city previously 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.
China’s capital Beijing built a total of 5,135 5G base stations in the first half of this year, according to recent press reports. Beijing will complete the construction of 13,000 5G base stations this year.
By June, the total number of 5G base stations in Beijing had reached 22,500, said Tan Xuxiang, head of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform.
The official added that the 5G network will cover all outdoor areas within Beijing’s Fifth Ring Road and in the city’s sub-center in Tongzhou District by the end of 2020.
