Chinese operators have deployed a total of 56,400 5G base stations in Beijing at the end of 2021, local news agency Xinhua reported.
Local authorities have said that the number of 5G base stations in the Chinese capital is expected to exceed 60,000 by the end of 2022.
At the end of October 2021, the number of 5G base stations in Beijing had reached 47,000, according to previous reports.
Wang Lei, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology, said that Beijing will further promote the accurate coverage of 5G networks in 2022 in its key hospitals, universities, tourist attractions and important transportation facilities.
The 5G network covers the main downtown areas of the capital, the city’s central business district, as well as the Olympic sports center area, according to previous reports.
Chinese operators have already installed more than 1.3 million 5G base stations across the country, according to recent data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).
China expects to see the number of 5G users exceed 560 million by 2023, according to a government guideline released in July. By then, the 5G network is expected to be used by over 40% of personal mobile phone users, and every 10,000 people in China will enjoy more than 18 5G base stations, the guideline said.
In 2022, China will further advance the construction of 5G services and gigabit fiber optic networks, Xiao added.
MIIT had recently unveiled plans to more than triple the number of 5G base stations over the next four years, targeting a total of 3.64 million by end-2025.
Under this plan, China aims to have 26 5G base stations for every 10,000 people by the end of 2025. In comparison, in 2020, there were five 5G base stations for every 10,000 people in China.
Also, Chinese operators recorded a net gain of 35.16 million 5G subscribers in November, according to the carriers’ latest available figures.
China Mobile, the world’s largest operator in terms of subscribers, added a total of 18.86 million 5G subscribers during November.
The carrier said it ended November with 374.38 million 5G subscribers, compared to 147.38 million 5G customers in November 2020.
China Mobile has added a total of 209.38 million subscribers in the 5G segment since the beginning of 2021.
Rival operator China Unicom said it added a total of 6.03 million 5G subscribers during November. China Unicom ended November with 149.5 million 5G subscribers.
Since the beginning of 2021, the carrier added a total of 78.71 million customers in the 5G segment.
Meanwhile, China Telecom added 10.27 million 5G subscribers in November to take its total 5G subscribers base to 178.76 million. During the January-November period, the telco added a total of 92.26 million 5G subscribers.
