China home to 3.92 million 5G base stations

BEIJING - The number of 5G base stations in China had risen to nearly 3.92 million by the end of June, data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed on Tuesday.

The figure represented a net increase of 540,000 5G base stations over the end of last year, and accounted for 33 percent of the total number of mobile base stations nationwide, according to the data.

The number of 5G mobile subscribers in the country increased by 105 million from the end of last year to reach 927 million as of the end of June this year.

The figure accounted for 52.4 percent of the total mobile subscribers in China's three major telecommunication enterprises and China Broadnet, which stood at nearly 1.78 billion by the end of June, the data showed.

The aforementioned three telecommunication operators are China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom.

China has seen its 5G network and commercialization develop rapidly in recent years. The country's 5G network now covers every city and town in the country, as well as more than 90 percent of its villages, the ministry said earlier this month.

Since the issuance of China's first batch of 5G licenses for commercial use five years ago, 5G technology has been integrated into various sectors such as industry, power, mining, healthcare and education, with large-scale promotion and application.

China has also built 300 5G factories and launched over 13,000 projects for the application of "5G plus industrial internet."

The ministry said last month that 5G commercialization had directly spurred total economic output of approximately 5.6 trillion yuan ($785 billion) in China over the past five years.

It has said that China would continue to advance 5G development and expand 5G network coverage in places such as cultural and tourism sites, healthcare facilities, universities, transportation hubs and subway systems.