The commercial deployment of 5G technology in China will come of age in 2019 with the first batch of 5G commercial data terminals and smartphones launched in the first half of 2019, according to a report of China's internet industry development released by the Internet Society of China on Tuesday.
The report was released at the 2019 China Internet Industry Annual Conference in Beijing. It also predicts that by 2020, the number of Chinese 5G base stations will reach 10,000.
2018 witnessed a critical testing period for 5G technology in China. Three Chinese telecommunications operators - China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom, have carried out large-scale testing and pre-commercial deployment in pilot cities, said Gao Xinmin, deputy director of the Internet Society of China. He added that testing areas included industrial internet, smart city construction, Internet of Vehicles with 5G and smart education.
The report says all of the three telecommunications operators aim to realize pre-commercial deployment in 2019 and put 5G into commercial operation in 2020.
It is notable that 5G will empower the networked driverless technology, in order to support different application scenarios such as easing congestion, real-time scheduling and emergency warning.
Wu Hequan, president of the Internet Society of China, said at the conference that 5G, artificial intelligence and industrial internet will be the three main areas to develop in the foreseeable future.
