Chinese telecom operators speed up 5G investment

Three major Chinese telecom operators -- China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom -- announced plans to pump up 5G investment in the second half of the year by furthering base transceiver station construction from urban cities to rural areas, according to the companies' recently released financial reports.

In the first half of 2020, total 5G expenditures by the three telecom operators reached nearly 88 billion yuan ($12.72 billion), and the yearly budget in this area is estimated to exceed 180 billion yuan, Economic Information Daily reported.

China Unicom said in its financial announcement on Tuesday that it has already set up 260,000 5G BTS so far, and the number is expected to hit 370,000 by the end of this year.

In cooperation with China Unicom to jointly conduct BTS construction and share 5G networks, China Telecom has launched 80,000 5G BTS from January to June, and nearly 210,000 in use.

China Mobile upgraded its target for newly built BTS this year from 250,000 to 300,000, and planned to launch 5G commercial services in all prefecture-level cities.

Statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology show that China has built up a total number of 400,000 5G base transceiver stations as of June, with about 88 million terminals connected by the end of July.