JINAN, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- East China's Shandong Province has built 50,000 5G base stations, covering the urban areas of all its 16 prefecture-level cities, local authorities said Saturday.

Shandong has invested 6.95 billion yuan (about 1.02 billion U.S. dollars) this year to construct 5G infrastructure and its application, said Zhang Hongyi, director of Shandong Communications Administration.

The number of 5G users in Shandong has reached about 9.24 million, Zhang added.

The province has beefed up the use of 5G tech in industries including new media, industrial internet, transport, education, healthcare and tourism over the years.