China Introduces Largest 5G Mobile Phone Network In The World

On Thursday, China's three state-owned wireless telecom operators announced the roll-out of their 5G mobile phone services. China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom said on their websites that 5G plans, which are being introduced for as low as 128 yuan a month, will be available to customers from 1 November.

The ultra-fast internet service is said to support new features like autonomous driving.

Initially, the three telecom service providers had planned to introduce 5G in early 2020, however, Beijing accelerated the launch as tensions with the US intensified. Apart from the trade disputes, there were tensions associated with the boycott of Chinese 5G equipment supplier and technology giant, Huawei Technologies Co., by the US.

While the US has introduced 5G in some parts of its country without Huawei gear and South Korea debuted its version in April, China will become the largest provider of the service in the world on account of its population and scale of its network due to investments by the companies.

A Bloomberg report said that more than 10 million have pre-registered to avail the 5G service in China.

Authorities told Reuters that while big cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Hangzhou are already covered by the 5G network, they plan on installing over 50,000 5G base stations across 50 Chinese cities in the country by the end of this year.