China Mobile announced that a total of 360,000 5G base stations will be deployed in 2023.
The penetration rate of 5G technology in China will reach 90% by the end of 2023, local newspaper Global Times reported, citing an executive at local telecommunications operator China Mobile.
Bian Yannan, deputy director of planning and construction at China Mobile, said this penetration rate will be achieved through the deployment of 360,000 5G base stations this year.
According to the report, China Mobile has already deployed a total of 1.7 million 5G base stations across Asia, with a penetration rate of over 85%.
China’s three major carriers announced their total subscriber numbers for November 2023, including a combined net addition of approximately 26 million 5G package subscribers, bringing the total number of 5G package subscribers to approximately 1.348 billion. As of the end of November, 5G package subscribers accounted for 78.6% and 77.3% of China Mobile’s and China Telecom’s total mobile subscribers, respectively.
According to previous reports, China Broadnet, the fourth largest 5G network operator in China, had a total of 20 million 5G subscribers as of the end of October. Broadnet officially launched its 5G services in June 2022.
According to a previous report from the GSMA, China is projected to reach 1 billion 5G subscribers by 2025, and the number of 5G users is expected to reach 1.6 billion by 2030.
According to the report, 5G technology could add $290 billion to the Chinese economy in 2030, with benefits across industries.
“As 5G adoption among consumers continues to accelerate, operators’ focus is increasingly shifting to 5G for enterprises. This creates opportunities to grow revenue beyond connectivity in adjacent areas such as cloud services, where Chinese operators have made great strides recently,” the GSMA report said.
According to the report, 5G will overtake 4G as the dominant mobile technology in China in 2024. “The dominance of 4G and 5G in China means that legacy networks are being phased out. While most users are moving to 4G and 5G, legacy networks continue to support a variety of IoT services. However, some estimates suggest that legacy networks may be almost completely shut down in China by 2025,” the research report states.
According to a GSMA report, 5G will account for 88% of mobile connections in China by 2030, with 4G technology making up the remaining 12%.
