Chinese telcos already deployed 2.73 million 5G base stations

5G base stations in China currently account for 24.5% of total base stations across the country

Chinese operators continue to expand their 5G infrastructure across the country and have already installed a total of 2.73 million base stations, state news agency Xinhua reported, citing data from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

According to the ministry, these 5G base stations accounted for 24.5% of the country’s overall mobile base stations.

The report stated that China’s Eastern region is taking the lead in 5G construction, with 1.29 million 5G base stations at the end of last month, accounting for over 47% of the country’s total, the ministry said.

The ministry previously predicted the number of 5G base stations in China will hit 2.9 million at the end of this year.

As of the end of April, the number of 5G mobile users of China’s three telecom operators China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom had reached 634 million, a net increase of 73.08 million from the end of last year.

The Chinese government also revealed that the number of cities in China with the capability to offer gigabit 5G and optical fiber services reached 110 by the end of October 2022. In these cities, over 80% of the large public hospitals, key universities, major cultural and tourist sites, airports, and key roads have access to 5G network.

According to a recent GSMA report, dubbed “The Mobile Economy China 2023”, 5G technology will add $290 billion to the Chinese economy in 2030, with benefits spread across industries.

“Mainland China is the largest 5G market in the world, accounting for more than 60% of global 5G connections at the end of 2022. With strong takeup of 5G among consumers, the focus of operators is now increasingly shifting to 5G for enterprises. This offers opportunities to grow revenues beyond connectivity in adjacent areas such as cloud services – a segment where operators in China have recently made significant progress,” the GSMA report reads.

5G will overtake 4G in 2024 to become the dominant mobile technology in China, according to the report. “4G and 5G dominance in China means legacy networks are now being phased out. While most users have been migrated to 4G and 5G, legacy networks continue to support various IoT services. However, some estimates suggest that legacy networks could be almost entirely shut down in China by 2025,” the study reads.