China’s capital Beijing aims to expand 5G network coverage in key areas including hospitals, universities and train stations, The Beijing News reported.
The Chinese city has already deployed a total of 44,000 5G base stations, while 5G terminal users in the city have reached 11.52 million as of the end of July, the report said, citing Huang Ping, deputy director of Beijing Communications Administration.
The 5G network has covered the main downtown areas of the capital, the city’s central business district, as well as the Olympic sports center area, according to the report. At present, construction of 5G base stations has been completed at the venues for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games in Beijing’s northwestern Yanqing district, and 90% of the venues in downtown Beijing. Besides, all the 5G base stations along the Beijing-Chongli Expressway and the Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed railway have been already built.
In related news, local newspaper Shanghai Daily reported that all of Shanghai’s tunnels and cross-river bridges will be covered by 5G technology by the end of 2021.
The 5G signal will cover 32 tunnels and four bridges across the Huangpu River connecting Puxi and the Pudong New Area by the end of 2021.
A total of six companies, including China Mobile and Shanghai Tunnel Engineering, signed an agreement related to this infrastructure build-out.
Shanghai had already deployed a total of 43,000 outdoor 5G base stations and 82,000 indoor base stations at the end of July, according to the report.
The country’s three major mobile carriers have already activated 961,000 5G base stations and connected 365 million 5G-compatible devices by the end of June, according to previous press reports.
Chinese operators recorded a net addition of 43.71 million 5G subscribers in July, according to the carriers’ latest available figures.
China Mobile, the world’s largest operator in terms of subscribers, added 28.91 million 5G subscribers in July. The carrier said it ended July with 279.60 million 5G subscribers, compared to 84.05 million 5G customers in July 2020. China Mobile added a total of 114.6 million subscribers in the 5G segment since the beginning of the year.
Meanwhile, Chinese operator China Unicom said it added a total of 7.74 million 5G subscribers during July. During the first seven months of the year, the carrier added a total of 50.24 million 5G subscribers. China Unicom ended July with 121.07 million 5G subscribers.
Rival operator China Telecom added 7.06 million 5G subscribers in July to take its total 5G subscribers base to 138.21 million. The telco added 51.71 million 5G customers in the January-July period.
