In a remarkable surge, the number of 5G subscribers at China Mobile soared to an impressive 794.503 million by the end of December, marking a substantial increase from 622.474 million in January 2023. China Mobile’s total mobile subscribers also witnessed a rise, reaching 991 million, compared to 975.509 million at the beginning of the year.
Official data released on Wednesday highlighted China’s continuous efforts in advancing its 5G network infrastructure. The number of 5G base stations in the country surpassed 3.28 million by the end of November, constituting 28.5 percent of the total mobile base stations, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
Simultaneously, there has been a notable increase in the adoption of 5G services among mobile phone users in China. As of the end of November, the combined mobile phone users of China’s three major telecom giants—China Telecom, China Mobile, and China Unicom—reached approximately 1.73 billion. Impressively, 771 million of these users embraced 5G services, reflecting a net increase of 210.4 million from the previous year. This accounted for 44.7 percent of the total mobile phone users.
Looking ahead, China has ambitious plans to extend its 5G mobile network and optical fiber network, boasting a speed of 1,000 Mbps, to all county and township seats in the border areas of the country by the close of 2025.
The telecommunications industry in China demonstrated steady expansion from January to October, buoyed by emerging businesses, as per official data. The combined business revenue of firms in this sector totaled 1.42 trillion yuan ($199 billion), representing a 6.9 percent year-on-year increase. Notably, emerging sectors like cloud computing, big data, the Internet of Things, and internet data centers witnessed a substantial 20.5 percent year-on-year revenue growth, amounting to 301.2 billion yuan.
Broadband internet services generated 219 billion yuan in revenue for China’s three telecom giants — China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom — during the first 10 months, indicating a notable 9.3 percent increase over the previous year.
The steady expansion of 5G technology continued throughout the same period, with China boasting 3.215 million 5G base stations and 754 million 5G users by the end of October. At that point, nearly half of China’s mobile phone users were subscribed to 5G services, underscoring the nation’s rapid technological advancements.