China Broadnet has deployed and is currently sharing 578,000 700 MHz base stations with rival operator China Mobile
Chinese operator China Broadnet has reached nationwide 5G coverage using 700 MHz spectrum, according to Chinese news site DVBCN.
The carrier said it now reaches all towns and cities across China with its 5G service, 14 months after launching.
According to the report, China Broadnet has deployed and is currently sharing 578,000 700 MHz base stations with rival operator China Mobile, with access to its 3.8 million 4G and 5G sites using the 2.6 GHz and 4.9 GHz spectrum bands.
The two carriers added a total of 98,000 5G sites in the 700 MHz band during the first half of the year.
China Broadnet had 13 million 5G users at the end of the first half and aims to reach 50 million 5G subscribers in three years.
China Broadnet reached the 1 million 5G subscriber mark in October last year. The operator became the country’s fourth operator when formally inaugurated in 2020, having previously acquired a license for commercial 5G services in 2019. The carrier was initially known as China Broadcasting Network before rebranding in 2022.
It was granted a 5G license in June 2019, after it secured 80 megahertz of 700 MHz spectrum and 100 megahertz of spectrum in the 4.9 GHz band.
In May 2020, the company had announced plans to deploy a nationwide 700 MHz 5G network in cooperation with China Mobile.
Under the terms of the deal, China Broadnet has access to China Mobile’s 2.6 GHz network and receives guidance and investment from the mobile operator. China Mobile will share its 2.6 GHz network on a paid basis, with China Broadnet able to access its 2G, 4G and 5G infrastructure prior to the launch of the 700 MHz network.
China Broadnet’s five largest shareholders are China Broadcasting Network Corporation, with a 51% stake, State Grid Information & Telecommunication, Alibaba Venture Capital Management, Guangdong Radio Television Network and Beijing All Media and Culture.
Chinese operators have outperformed the country’s own construction target for 5G base stations, deploying almost 3 million by the end of June, six months ahead of schedule. Chinese operators deployed nearly 600,000 5G base stations in the April-June period alone.
“As of the end of June, the number of 5G base stations in China had reached 2.937 million, covering all urban areas of prefecture-level and county-level cities and the coverage is continuously expanding in both breadth and depth,” said Zhao Zhiguo, chief engineer at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).
China is forecasted to reach 1 billion 5G subscribers by 2025, while the number of 5G users by 2030 is expected to reach 1.6 billion, according to a recent report by the GSMA.
In 2022, mobile technologies and services generated 5.5% of China’s GDP – a contribution that amounted to $1.1 trillion of economic value added. According to the report, 5G technology will add $290 billion to the Chinese economy in 2030, with benefits spread across industries.
