More than 70% of world's 5G base stations built by China

Technicians with the Beijing branch of China Tower Corp work at a 5G base station in Beijing. (Photo/China Daily)

More than 70 percent of the world's 5G base stations were set up by Chinese companies, of which 36 percent were built by China Mobile, China's largest telecoms operator, according to an executive of the company.

"China Mobile has not only taken the lead in building a 5G network with the largest size and the most advanced networking mode in the world, but also has the largest number of subscribers in the world," said Duan Xiaodong, vice president of China Mobile Research Institute, the research division of China Mobile, in a recent interview.

Duan also revealed that as of the end of May, China Mobile had nearly 250 million 5G package subscribers and over 160 million 5G terminal connections, accounting for more than 40 percent of the global total.

According to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China has built the world's largest 5G SA network, with a total of 961,000 5G base stations.

Meanwhile, by the end of May 2021, 443 operators in 133 countries/territories had invested in 5G, of which 169 operators in 70 countries/territories had launched 5G commercial services, according to statistics from the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA).