5G covers all prefecture-level, county-level cities in China: Report

(ECNS) -- China has built 3.377 million 5G base stations, covering all prefecture-level and county-level cities across the country as of December 2023, according to the China Internet Network Information Center on Friday.

The number of mobile internet of things end users reached 2.332 billion, a net increase of 488 million from December 2022, accounting for 57.5 percent of the number of mobile network terminal connections.

China will move to expand its 5G mobile network access to all outlying border regions and inhabited offshore islands, and the 5G coverage will likely reach 100 percent by the end of 2025, according to a notice jointly issued by 13 Chinese government departments in January.

The country aims to realize the commercialization of 6G by 2030, according to Wang Zhiqin, head of the IMT-2030 (6G) Promotion Group and vice president of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, in a previous report in December 2023.

It is expected that standardization for 6G technology will be achieved around 2025, Wang said.