China is also predicted to reach a 5G adoption rate of 90% by 2030, making it a world leader in this space, says the GSMA
China is expected to reach a 5G adoption rate of 90% by 2030, making it a world leader in this space, according to the GSMA’s Mobile Economy China 2024. The report predicted that by the end of this year, the county will surpass 1 billion 5G connections and that by 2030, the number will soar to 1.6 billion connections, contributing $260 billion to China’s GDP.
Additionally, the report found that mobile data traffic in China is expected to quadruple by the end of the decade and that there are now 1.28 billion unique mobile subscribers in China, representing a penetration rate of 88%. Further, the advanced cellular ecosystem now supports almost 8 million jobs in China and contributes $110 billion a year through taxation, and in 2023, operator revenues reached $225 billion. By the end of the decade, the annual economic contribution from China’s mobile sector is forecast to exceed $1 trillion, predicted the GSMA.
“As China surpasses 1 billion 5G connections this year, we expect to see further investment and potential in evolutions such as 5G-Advanced, 5G New Calling and 5G RedCap to improve user experience and unlock new revenue streams for operators,” commented Mats Granryd, director general of the GSMA.
Granryd also noted China’s involvement in the GSMA’s Open Gateway initiative, a framework of universal network application programmable interfaces (APIs) established in 2023 that aims to provide universal access to operator networks for developers. According to Granryd, the country’s commitment to the initiative is helping “drive the growth and maturity of [5G].”
As part of their involvement in the initiative, China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom — the country’s three leading mobile operators — announced this week the commercial launch of the One Time Password (OTP) API, which the GSMA stated delivers improved security when compared with single-factor authentication and in card-not-present payment scenarios. In addition, CITIC Telecom, Huawei and ZTE have become the latest Chinese telecommunications companies to commit to the GSMA Open Gateway.
