China’s three main mobile carriers plan to start offering 5G mobile services to the public on November 1, according to a report by Beijing News. The new services will reportedly be introduced at the opening of the PT Expo China 2019 in Beijing, which runs from October 31 to November 3.
China Mobile will launch their service in the capital city while the other two operators – China Telecom and China Unicom – are also expected to introduce the service for customers on Friday.
The announcements come after China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom were granted commercial 5G licenses by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in June. China will be among the first in the world to provide the technology for consumers, according to Bloomberg. Carriers in South Korea and the US have already launched 5G services; however, industry executives have said China is gunning for nationwide coverage in 2020, WSJ reported in June.
The new offerings by China’s mobile carriers will likely benefit other companies with 5G-related products and projects, such as smartphone manufacturers, app creators and internet companies. Phone makers Samsung, Huawei, Oppo and LG, among other brands, have already released new phones that support 5G. Meanwhile, Apple is expected to release their first 5G iPhone in 2020.
Over the past two years, 5G technology has been piloted in cities all around the country, with public transportation, railway stations, airports and devices gaining coverage and capability. Beijing already has over a combined 13,000 5G base stations from the nation’s three big carriers, with more expected in the near future.
In July, Guangzhou, the capital city of Guangdong province, announced that the city plans to have 65,000 5G base stations by 2021.
READ MORE: Huawei Releases New 5G Phone and it’s Massive
[Cover image via Pixabay]
0 User Comments