China Daily Global Edition (USA)
China Mobile's goal in 2017
by the end of this year, covering more than 99 percent of the population, with its 4G customers increasing to 630 million, according to Shang.
China Mobile is committed to accelerating the building of new generation information infrastructure, and its accumulative investment in 4G has surpassed 450 billion yuan ($66.2 billion). The 4G base station has came up to 1.62 million, which accounts for 30 percent of 4G base stations worldwide.
The country has attached great importance to 5G in its 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20). In March, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced the country had established the world’s largest 5G test field in the race to standardize the technology.
China is expected to become the world’s largest 5G market before 2025, according to a reportbyGSMAIntelligence,a think tank of the representative body of the global mobile industry and China Information and Communications Technology Academy.
The report also forecasts that Chinese 5G connections will scale rapidly over time, to reach 428 million by 2025.
China United Network Communications Group, the country’s second-largest telecom carrier has also accelerated its efforts to develop 5G technology. It recently established the country’s first pre5G base station in Jilin province in partnership with Huawei Technologies Co.
“China Mobile has made a bigger investment in 5G tests and experiments, compared with its rivals, including China Unicom and China Telecom. Moreover, China is in the forefront of 5G technology around theworld,possessingarightof speech in the establishment of 5G international standards,” said Fu Liang, an independent telecom analyst.
Xiang Ligang, a telecom expert and CEO of telecom industry website cctime.com said China Mobile has almost finished the construction of 4G networks nationwide and could spend more efforts and money on 5G research and development.
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Shi Jing contributed to the story.