Haikou, Qionghai listed among first 5G cities

Visitors will be able to use 5G networks in Haikou starting in September. [Photo by Gu Yue/Hainan Daily]

China's top three communication service providers, China Telecom, China Mobile, and China Unicom, plan to offer 5G services in at least 40 cities with a complete coverage of 5G networks by the end of September.

Haikou and Qionghai were the only two cities in Hainan province that were listed among the first batch of cities to receive 5G services.

In addition to the three service providers mentioned above, China Broadcast Network was also granted a 5G commercial license by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on June 6, and received authorization to offer the fifth generation digital cellular mobile communication service. This marked that China has officially entered the era of 5G commercial development.

To date, China Unicom has set up 5G demonstration experience halls in more than 40 cities. China Telecom has conducted 5G scale testing and application demonstration in 17 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Haikou, and Qionghai, with the number of cities growing at a fast rate.

China Mobile and China Unicom have released the same list of 40 domestic cities that will receive 5G coverage, while China Telecom has yet to announce their complete list but revealed that Yingtan in Jiangxi province and Qionghai in Hainan province will be included on it.

With 5G services, cities will be able to further integrate 5G technology with vertical industries, which will help drive technological innovation, facilitate industrial upgrades, and boost high-quality economic growth.