Stands at the China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) in Beijing on May 30, 2019
China will issue commercial 5G licenses “in the near future”, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said on Monday.
5G services offer connection speeds 20 to 50 times faster than current networks. Direct investment will hit 1 trillion yuan (US$147 million).
An engineer stands under a 5G base station antenna in Huawei’s Songshan Lake Manufacturing Center in Dongguan, Guangdong province
China holds about 30 percent of 5G technology patents. Nokia, Ericsson, Qualcomm and Intel have carried out research and tests in China to share China’s achievements, said the ministry.
Chinese mobile carriers are expected to invest 1.2 trillion yuan in 5G by 2025.
Huawei, the world’s biggest telecommunications equipment vendor, has obtained 40 overseas contracts, 25 from Europe.