China's 5G networks and devices grow rapidly in popularity in 2020

Visitors look at a 5G intelligent application booth at the 2019 World 5G Convention in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 21, 2019. Themed "5G changes the world, 5G creates the future," the 2019 World 5G Convention kicked off Thursday in Beijing. (Xinhua/Li Xin)

China's 5G networks and devices are growing rapidly in popularity in 2020. Since 5G was officially put into commercial use, the number of 5G subscribers has exceeded 10 million in just over two months.

In those two months since 5G was officially put into commercial use, the number of 5G subscribers to China Telecom has exceeded 8 million, said Wang Guoquan, executive vice president of China Telecom, on Jan. 15.

China Mobile previously revealed that as of Jan. 7, the company had 3 million subscribers with 5G packages, with 3.8 million 5G mobile phones activated in the network.

Although China Unicom has not yet announced its number of 5G package users, the combined number of 5G users from China Mobile and China Telecom is over 10 million.

A number of communications experts said that due to various reasons, 5G package user data from operators is not comparable to those from other packages. But overall, 5G users are growing faster than previously expected.

China Mobile will launch 5G services in all cities above prefecture level in 2020, Dong Xin, vice president of China Mobile, said on Jan. 10, adding that this means that more than 340 cities across the country will open 5G networks.

When 5G was officially put into commercial use on Oct. 31 last year, the three major operators could only provide 5G services in 50 cities. In 2020, the 5G network will move from big cities to all parts of the country.

The three major operators in China have also set major goals in terms of the development of users and terminals.

In early January this year, a senior figure from China Mobile's marketing department revealed that in 2020, China Mobile will continue to promote the "5G +" program to cultivate new value for 5G and add 100 million mobile phones to the terminal.

China Telecom announced that in 2020, the company plans to achieve its development goal with 60 million 5G terminals, 3 million VR terminals, 36 million smart home terminals and 20 million NB modules.

There were 13.8 million domestic shipments of 5G mobile phones in 2019. 5G mobile phones account for only 3.5 percent of the total domestic market, which is not a high proportion, but the performance was better than many institutions expected, according to data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.