China boasts over 1.4m 5G base stations

BEIJING - China has set up a total of 1.43 million 5G base stations as of the end of 2021 amid the country's efforts to boost information and communication technologies, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The figure accounted for over 60 percent of the global total, with 10.1 5G base stations serving every 10,000 people in China, nearly doubling from the end of 2020, the ministry said.

Last year, China's investment in 5G reached 184.9 billion yuan ($29 billion), a share of 45.6 percent in fixed-asset investment of the telecommunication industry, up 8.9 percentage points from that of a year ago.

China will make steady and orderly progress toward the establishment of 5G services and gigabit fiber-optic networks in 2022, the ministry noted.

The country expects to see the number of 5G users exceed 560 million by 2023, and every 10,000 people in China will enjoy more than 18 5G base stations, stated a guideline released last year.