(File photo)

China’s three network operators will start testing 5G service in selected cities during the second half of this year, as the Internet of Things industry continues to grow.

The pilot cities are Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Suzhou, and Ningbo. Ten more cities will be added later.

Global 5G requires not only the formal network but a foundation for follow-up development. The three network operators will test the new network while also increasing the scale of the tests and focusing on network access authentication and base station construction.

China Mobile will focus efforts on the interconnection between cars, humans, and other technical areas, while China Telecom will introduce smart healthcare, smart transportation, and self-driving cars in cooperation with Nokia and Ericsson.

China Unicom plans to collaborate with Bell, Intel, Tencent, and Mercedes-Benz on testing the technology in cars and other technical areas.

The Internet of Things is expected to help China become a global leader in the 5G standard, and enable the country to strengthen its competitive edge in the Internet of Things and other applications.