China grants 5G licenses for commercial use

Beijing, June 6 (IANS) China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on Thursday granted 5G licenses for commercial use, marking the beginning of a new era in the country's telecommunication industry.

The Ministry granted the 5G licenses to the nation's major three telecom carriers -- China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom -- as well as the state-owned China Broadcasting Network Corp, reports the China Daily.

MIIT Minister Miao Wei said China welcomes foreign companies to actively participate in the construction of the country's 5G market and share the benefits generated.

The move marks an accelerated push by China to apply 5G. Its previous plan was to commercialize the technology in 2020.

"The 5G licensing will help deepen structural reform in the telecom industry, improve the level of social and economic informatization, and foster several leading companies with global competitiveness," China Mobile Chairman Yang Jie told the media.

China Mobile has claimed that its 5G services will be available in more than 40 cities by the end of September.

China Unicom noted it will continue to welcome foreign companies to participate in domestic 5G construction.

High-speed 5G technology is expected to revolutionize the tech world in the near future, as it will be able to transmit data at least 10 times faster than the 4G system, said the China Daily.

Telecom equipment-maker Huawei Technologies Co said in a statement on Thursday that it is ready to help China accelerate the commercial use of 5G.

Huawei's global pioneering capabilities to offer 5G solutions can support Chinese telecom carriers to build a sound network, the company said.

The tech giant has invested about $2 billion in total into the research and development of 5G since 2009.

ZTE Corp, another Chinese telecom gear vendor, also said in a statement that its products were ready for commercial use and it will actively participate in the commercial deployment and construction of 5G networks in China, and work closely with industry partners to actively promote the application of 5G.

China is set to become the world's largest 5G market by 2025, with 460 million 5G users, according to a forecast by the Global System for Mobile Communications Association, an industry group.

The country's telecom carriers are expected to spend 900 billion to 1.5 trillion yuan ($134 billion to $223 billion) in total on 5G network construction from 2020 to 2025, according to a report from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.