China Mobile said that a total of 360,000 5G base stations were deployed in 2023
The penetration of 5G technology in China is expected to reach 90% as of the end of 2023, local newspaper Global Times reported, citing an executive from local carrier China Mobile.
Bian Yannan, deputy general manager of planning and construction department at China Mobile, said that this penetration rate would be achieved thanks to the deployment of 360,000 5G base stations during the year.
According to the report, China Mobile had already deployed a total of 1.7 million 5G base stations across the Asian nation, with an penetration rate of more than 85%
China’s three main telecom operators have announced their subscriber totals for the month of November 2023, including a combined net increase of approximately 26 million 5G package subscribers, boosting their combined 5G package subscriber base to nearly 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 subscriber bases, respectively.
China’s fourth 5G network operator, China Broadnet, had a total of 20 million 5G subscribers as of the end of October, according to previous reports. Broadnet officially launched 5G services in June 2022.
China is forecasted to reach 1 billion 5G subscribers by 2025, while the number of 5G users by 2030 is expected to reach 1.6 billion, according to a previous report by the GSMA.
According to the report, 5G technology will add $290 billion to the Chinese economy in 2030, with benefits spread across industries.
“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.
According to the GSMA report, 5G will account for 88% of mobile connections in China by 2030, while 4G technology will account for the remaining 12%.
