China has built the world's largest 5G high-speed mobile network with 260 million 5G mobile connections now, reported Chinese official media quoting Liu Liehong, vice-minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).
By the end of February, China has built 792,000 5G base stations and the number of 5G terminal connections had reached 260 million.
"Telecom companies have worked hard to overcome the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic and accelerated the construction of 5G networks since 5G has been commercialized more than a year ago, and the country has established the world's largest 5G mobile network, " Liu said.
China's 4G network base stations accounted for half of the world's total, data from the MIIT showed.
The ministry also estimated 5G mobile phone shipments in China would account for 80 percent of the total shipments in the second half of this year. China's mobile network speed ranks fourth among 139 countries and regions, Liu said, citing data from an international speed measuring agency.
China aims to build more than 600,000 5G base stations in 2021. The MIIT has pledged efforts to promote the construction and application of 5G networks in an orderly manner, he said.
According to the local media reports, China Mobile, the world’s largest operator in terms of subscribers, added 4.19 million 5G subscribers in February. The operator said it ended February with a total of 173.16 million 5G subscribers, compared to 15.4 million 5G customers in February 2020.
Meanwhile, rival operator China Telecom added a total of 6.2 million 5G subscribers in February to take its total 5G subscribers base to 103.37 million. Also, China Unicom ended February with 84.5 million 5G subscribers, up from 77.95 million the previous month.
China is forecast to reach 739 million 5G subscribers by 2025, according to a recent study by ABI Research.
The Chinese government is also focusing on non-yet-standardized 6G technology. According to a recent report by state-owned newspaper China Daily, the government and industry experts have outlined a plan to advance 6G technology between 2021 and 2025.
