China to triple 5G base station count by 2025, covering 56% of the country

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) revealed plans to more than triple the number of 5G base stations over the next four years, targeting a total of 3.64 million by end-2025, China Daily reported.

As such, the country aims to get 56 percent of the country on 5G networks by the end of 2025, up from 15 percent in 2020.

MIIT’s target is a total of 3.64 million base stations by end-2025, according to China Daily. “The five-year plan also forecasts that the cumulative investment in telecom infrastructure will increase from $2 trillion in 2020 to $3 trillion in 2025,” it noted.

Xie Cun, director of the MIIT’s information and communication development department, said that all prefecture-level cities have full 5G coverage, with rural towns at 40 percent.

“5G has already been used in 22 industries, including industrial manufacturing, mining, ports, medical care, education, and entertainment,” he added.

“In the next step, we will work with other parties to focus on promoting 5G applications in 15 industries that focus on information consumption, the real economy, and people’s livelihood services,” Xie noted.

As of July, China had more than 160 million 5G network users, accounting for about 89 percent of the 5G users worldwide, said a report on National Internet Development.

The nation has 1.2 million 5G sites nationwide, which make up about 70 percent of the global total, with the number of customers on compatible plans accounting for 38.7 percent of the nation’s tally.           

In addition, Gigabit optical fiber network will cover most urban, rural areas, facilities and services for data and computing will be enhanced remarkably, it said.

The plan identifies the role of the information and communication industry as a strategic, basic and innovative industry to help build a new type of digital infrastructure and support economic and social development.

The plan includes a new type of supervision system is in place, as well as the protection of users’ rights and interests, especially their personal information.