China started deploying 5G on October 31, 2019, almost 3 years before India launched 5G. While Indian telcos claim that they are executing the fastest 5G rollout in the world, there's also the fact, that to surpass China, it will be a long and tough road. To give you context, India had 385,888 or 0.38 million 5G BTS (base transceiver station) at the end of October 31, 2023. At the same time, China had 3.22 million 5G BTS, almost 10 times more than the numbers in India.
China's government operates three major telecom companies in the country - China Unicom, China Telecom, and China Mobile. The three telecom operators offer 5G services and have over 754 5G mobile phone users (via Xinhua news agency). By the end of 2025, China is expected to have more than a billion 5G phone users. This will be way more than any country and it would certainly take time for India to even catch up to this.
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No other country can come close to even these numbers because there's just not enough population. Only India can compete with China here, but India's 5G rollout is still in the nascent stages compared to China.
Over 28.1% of all the mobile base stations in China are 5G. The number is only going to grow from here as China establishes newer business models to drive the demand for 5G. Enterprises in China are leveraging 5G for manufacturing, mining, logistics management, and more. It is worth noting that currently, only two Indian telecom operators are rolling out 5G.
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Once Vodafone Idea (Vi) starts rolling out 5G, the number of 5G BTS should rise faster and it would also aid the consumers as well as businesses. Indian telecom operators can use street furniture to deploy 5G small cells, ensuring that better 5G coverage is delivered in urban cities.
