Beijing
China’s 5G development is moving fast as 20 mobile phone models in the market already support the new technology, said the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
It won’t be too long before users can have access to 5G as Chinese telecom operators have started to deploy 5G networks, according to Wen Ku, director of the Department of Information and Communications Development under the ministry at a news briefing in Beijing.
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology granted 5G licenses for commercial use in June, marking the beginning of a new era in the country’s telecommunication industry.
China Telecom, China Mobile, China Unicom and China Broadcasting Network are the first batch of companies that obtained the 5G licenses.
“As far as I know, about 20 mobile phone models can work with 5G now and the number is expected to rise by the end of the year. Several operators have started to deploy 5G networks and some are soliciting users to try it. They are mainly deploying 5G in some key areas especially hot spots and big cities this year,” said Wen.
The ministry said China’s information and communications industry ran steadily in the first half of the year, with the volume of telecom businesses up 25.7 percent year on year. By the end of June, 77.1 percent of Chinese users had access to a broadband network with the speed of at least 100Mb and 4G was available to 77.6 percent of users.
For the requirement by the State Council that mobile number portability reform should be fully implemented across the country by the end of November to lower the charges of Internet services, Wen said so far 2.3 million users in five piloting provinces and cities have completed the mobile number portability work.
“At present, we have drafted an interim regulation administrating the mobile number portability service in terms of requirements, operating process, and service specifications and will solicit opinions from the public according to procedures recently,” said Wen.—CCTV-PLUS
