China’s capital Beijing built a total of 5,135 5G base stations in the first half of this year, state-run news agency Xinhua reported.
According to the report, Beijing will complete the construction of 13,000 5G base stations this year.
By June, the total number of 5G base stations in Beijing had reached 22,500, said Tan Xuxiang, head of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform.
The official added that the 5G network will cover all outdoor areas within Beijing’s Fifth Ring Road and in the city’s sub-center in Tongzhou District by the end of 2020.
The city will also boost the construction of 5G applications, such as unmanned vehicles, and promote the 5G construction at the Beijing Daxing International Airport and the 5G transformation of venues for the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Large cities across China have also been accelerating plans to expand 5G infrastructure.
The municipal government of Shenzhen city previously announced plans to deploy a total of 30,000 new 5G base stations during 2020. According to local municipal authorities, this deployment will allow Chinese carriers to provide full 5G coverage across Shenzhen.
As of the end of last year, Shenzhen had a total of 15,500 5G base stations, which enabled carriers to provide the technology in key areas across the city, according to the Shenzhen Industrial and Information Technology Bureau.
Shenzhen, a southern tech hub in Guangdong Province, is one of the first pilot cities of the 5G network in China.
Meanwhile, Shanghai has previously stated its commitment to investing CNY 10 billion ($1.4 billion) in 5G network construction this year, with the city anticipating 30,000 outdoor 5G base stations and 50,000 indoor small stations built by the end of 2020.
South China’s Guangdong Province has already deployed more than 78,000 5G base stations as of the end of June, according to recent press reports.
In the first half of the year, the province completed the construction of 41,401 stations, according to information provided by the Department of Industry and Information Technology of Guangdong.
The province also ended the first half of the year with a total of 14.34 million subscribers in the 5G segment.
China’s carrier China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom have already built more than 400,000 5G base stations by the end of June 2020, according to data from the country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).
The figure represents an increase from the 130,000 5G base stations constructed in the 2019. Chinese mobile operators are expected to deploy over 600,000 5G base stations by the end of the year, covering cities above the prefecture level in the country.
