BEIJING, June 5 (Xinhua) -- China is accelerating the construction of 5G commercial network as multiple departments and localities have rolled out new 5G network construction plans recently, reported Economic Information Daily Friday.
It's learned that 5G technology has played a crucial role in China's epidemic prevention and control as well as work and production resumption since the COVID-19 outbreak, and many regions have turned to 5G network construction with the intention to optimize the investment structure and stabilize the economic growth.
Thus, 5G network construction in prefecture-level cities, counties and towns has become a hot spot for investment, and many regions including Henan, Guizhou, Hunan and Jiangsu are expected to achieve 5G coverage in areas above the county level by the end of the year.
Central China's Henan Province plans to complete 10.45 billion yuan of investment in the 5G sector and build 29,000 5G base stations this year, aiming to realize 5G coverage in counties and above-county-level regions throughout the province by the end of the year.
Southwest China's Guizhou Province will strive to build 20,000 5G base stations this year, in a bid to realize 5G coverage in all counties of the province.
Central China's Hunan Province plans to build more than 20,000 5G base stations in 2020, with the goal of achieving continuous 5G coverage in the main urban areas of 14 cities and prefectures and the core urban areas of key counties before the end of the year.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the 5G base stations across China are likely to exceed 600,000 by the end of 2020.
In terms of operators, China Telecom announced recently its plan to build 300,000 5G bases this year covering all cities above prefecture level nationwide, and to launch the world's first commercial 5G independent networking.
China Mobile plans to achieve 5G network coverage in cities above prefecture-level across the country by 2020, with a net increase of 70 million 5G package customers.
The construction of 5G network will drive investment growth, promote information consumption, and become a new driver for economic growth, said Liu Duo, president of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), in a recent interview.
It is estimated that 5G network construction would boost 1.7 trillion yuan of investment by telecom operators from 2020 to 2025, 0.7 trillion yuan of investment in vertical industry networks and equipment, as well as 2 trillion yuan of information service consumption and 4.5 trillion yuan of terminal consumption, said Liu. (Edited by Gu Shanshan with Xinhua Silk Road, gushanshan.1987@163.com)
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