As of the end of March, China has built more than 819,000 5G base stations, accounting for over 70% of the world’s total, according to statistics revealed by Liu Liehong, vice minister of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) at the 2021 World Telecommunication and Information Society Day in Zhengzhou, Henan province, China, on May 17, 2021.

The number of 5G mobile terminal user connections has reached 280 million, accounting for more than 80% of the world’s share, the MIIT said. China has built the world's largest independent 5G network, and new technologies such as network slicing have been put to commercial use. More than 400,000 base stations were co-built and shared, with construction costs exceeding 80 billion yuan (12.5 billion USD). Chinese operators added a total of 69 million 5G subscribers in the first quarter, making the total number of 5G plan subscribers reached 350 million so far, and the price per unit of data has dropped significantly.

China also eyes 6G as the next tech frontier, pushing forward the use of informatization within the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25) with 6G technologies being a top priority, as China boosts the development of the digital economy as a new economic driver.