Chinese operators had deployed a total of 2.29 million 5G base stations nationwide as of the end of November
Chinese operators recorded a net gain of 59.17 million 5G subscribers in March, according to the operators’ latest available statistics.
China Mobile, the world’s largest operator in terms of subscribers, added a total of 50.1 million 5G subscribers during March. The carrier said it ended last month with 689.2 million 5G subscribers. China Mobile added a total of 227.2 million subscribers in the 5G segment during 2022.
China Mobile’s overall mobile subscriber base at the end of March amounted to 982.7 million, after a net addition of 4.1 million subscribers during the month. Last year, China Mobile added a total of 18.11 million subscribers.
Meanwhile, China Telecom added 5.03 million 5G subscribers last month to take its total 5G subscribers base to 283.21 million. During 2022, the telco added a total of 80.16 million 5G subscribers.
China Telecom’s overall mobile base amounted to 398.7 million subscribers at the end of March, after adding 2.99 million customers during the month.
Rival operator China Unicom said it added a total of 4.04 million 5G subscribers during last month. The carrier ended March with 223.8 million 5G subscribers. China Unicom added over 42 million subscribers in the 5G segment during 2022.
Chinese operators had deployed a total of 2.29 million 5G base stations nationwide as of the end of November, according to the latest available data from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
This figure represents an increase of 862,000 compared to the end of 2021 and accounts for 21.1% of all mobile base stations in the country.
The ministry recently predicted the number of 5G base stations in China will hit 2.9 million at the end of this 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.
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.
