China Mobile, a major telecom player in China, has increased its 5G subscriber base by 152 million since the begning of the year. In August, all the Chinese operators added a net 26.2 million 5G subscribers, according to the most latest information available from the carriers.
The Rise in the Chinese 5G Subscribers
In terms of customer base, China Mobile, the largest operator in the world, added 15.08 million new 5G customers in August. 538.8 million 5G subscribers were on board at the operator's portfolio by the end of the previous month. The total number of mobile subscribers for China Mobile at the end of August was 973.24 million, up from 971.13 million from the previous month. China Unicom, a rival operator, reported gaining 4.88 million new 5G users in total during the course of August 2022. 194.83 million 5G subscribers were on board the carrier at the end of August.
As per RCR Wireless, in the meantime, China Telecom increased its base of 5G subscribers by 6.27 million last month, bringing the total to 243.6 million. The telco had added a total of 55.8 million 5G subscribers since the year's commencement. China Telecom added roughly 1.90 million new users in August, bringing its total number of mobile subscribers to 388 million.
According to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, local news outlet Xinhua recently revealed that Chinese operators have already installed more than 1.97 million 5G base stations around the nation. According to the MIIT, China's prefecture-level cities, counties, and 96% of its villages currently have 5G network coverage. According to earlier projections, mobile carriers would also build a total of 600,000 base stations to improve 5G infrastructure throughout China in 2022.
China Mobile, the largest operator in the world by number of customers, recently said that it has spent CNY58.7 billion($8.7 billion) on the 5G market in the first half of 2018. The second half of the year will see the deployment of an additional 120,000 5G base stations, bringing the total to 990,000.
China Telecom added 180,000 5G base stations in the first half, bringing the total to 870,000 with network partner China Unicom. By the end of the year, all major cities, counties, and villages and towns should have 5G coverage, according to China Telecom.
