SHANGHAI, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Shanghai's metro operator on Monday signed a strategic cooperation agreement with major telecom firms to cooperate in the construction of a 5G network that will cover the city's all 297 metro stations this year.

Under the deal, the 5G infrastructure building will be completed before the city hosts this year's China International Import Expo in early November.

Shanghai Shentong Metro Group Co., Ltd. signed the agreement with the Shanghai subsidiaries of China Telecom, China Mobile, China Unicom and China Tower to commence the cooperation.

Under the deal, all parties will explore innovative 5G applications in metro safety management, operation services, intelligent operation and equipment maintenance.

The city has planned to invest 10 billion yuan (about 1.4 billion U.S. dollars) in 5G network construction this year. By the end of this year, Shanghai will see 30,000 outdoor 5G base stations and 50,000 indoor small stations built.

At the 2019 edition of the China International Import Expo, Shentong Metro Group and the telecom operators launched a "5G + smart metro innovation demonstration application."

Shanghai Metro Group said the cooperation in the building of the metro system's 5G network will integrate traditional and new infrastructure for high-quality development of urban infrastructure, which will meet the demands of the future applications of the Internet of Things, unmanned driving and intelligent transportation.