By Juan Pedro Tomás
Shipments of 5G mobile phones in the Chinese market reached 266 million units in 2021, up 63.5 per cent compared to shipments the previous year, local press reported, citing a report by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.
According to the report, shipments of 5G smartphones last year accounted for 75.9 per cent of total mobile shipments during 2021. The report also noted that this proportion is much higher than the global average of 40.7 per cent.
The entity noted that the increase in 5G adoption in the country had been encouraged by the price of such handsets falling below CNY1,000 (US$157.69).
The report also stated that mobile operators have already deployed a total of 1.39 million 5G base stations as of the end of November 2021.
The 5G base stations cover all cities and urban areas above the prefecture-level, more than 97 per cent of counties and 50 per cent of townships and towns, according to the data released by the Chinese government. As of now, China has over 800,000 shared 5G base stations. Also, more than 2,300 5G industry virtual private networks have been built and commercialized in China, according to the report.
In November 2021, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) unveiled plans to more than triple the number of 5G base stations over the next four years, targeting a total of 3.64 million by end-2025.
Under this plan, China aims to have 26 5G base stations for every 10,000 people by the end of 2025. In comparison, in 2020, there were five 5G base stations for every 10,000 people in China.
Chinese operators recorded a net gain of 35.16 million 5G subscribers in November, according to the carriers’ latest available figures.
China Mobile, the world’s largest operator in terms of subscribers, added a total of 18.86 million 5G subscribers during November.
The carrier said it ended November with 374.38 million 5G subscribers, compared to 147.38 million 5G customers in November 2020.
China Mobile has added a total of 209.38 million subscribers in the 5G segment since the beginning of 2021.
Rival operator China Unicom said it added a total of 6.03 million 5G subscribers during November. China Unicom ended November with 149.5 million 5G subscribers.
Since the beginning of 2021, the carrier added a total of 78.71 million customers in the 5G segment.
Meanwhile, China Telecom added 10.27 million 5G subscribers in November to take its total 5G subscribers base to 178.76 million. During the January-November period, the telco added a total of 92.26 million 5G subscribers.
