9m sign up for 5G services in China

ABOUT 9 million people have subscribed to 5G services in China after mobile carriers offered discounted prices and added 5G base stations since the 5G licenses were issued in June.

By October 5, more than 5.32 million people had subscribed to China Mobile’s 5G services, followed by 1.75 million for China Unicom and 1.76 million subscribers for China Telecom.

The carriers haven’t officially launched 5G services in the local market and coverage area is limited.

But they are expected to launch the services this month, industry insiders said.

Smartphone vendors such as Huawei, Vivo, Xiaomi, ZTE and Samsung have already launched 5G models in China. Carriers have offered bundled packages with discounted prices for 5G smartphones.

In Shanghai, 5G signals are available in spots like People’s Square, Nanjing Road, Zhangjiang and Hongqiao Railway Station.

By the end of 2019, 10,000 5G base stations will cover the whole of downtown Shanghai.

The city will spend 30 billion yuan (US$4.4 billion) to build 30,000 5G base stations by 2021, offering full 5G coverage, local officials said.

For Shanghai’s 5G smartphone users, carriers now offer 100 Gigabyte free data packages each month. But they will charge users when full-coverage is available.