China’s first 5G mobile phone is expected to be released during the second half of 2019, said Wen Ku, director of the telecom development department at China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. He made the remarks on April 22 at the 1st Digital China Summit in Fuzhou, southeastern China’s Fujian province.

Wen noted that China was home to 1.03 billion 4G net users in 2017, and a universal standard of 5G technology will be established in the future.

He said China is one of the leading countries of 5G development, and it has established cooperation structures with Europe, the US, Japan and South Korea on both government and industry levels.

The first 5G mobile phone is expected to be released when the technology initially commercializes in the second half of 2019, the director disclosed.

China Mobile, one of China’s major telecommunication corporations, exhibited its latest technologies at the summit, including 5G, e-gov, big data and internet of things.

Shang Bing, chairman of China Mobile, said at the summit that the company is speeding up the construction of the new information infrastructure and the commercialization of 5G technology. He added that China Mobile will provide world-class support for China in the digital era.

The 1st Digital China Summit, which kicked off in Fuzhou last Sunday, was attended by about 800 people including officials, representatives of industrial organizations and experts.