China’s Zhejiang province to launch 120,000 new 5G stations next year

East China’s Zhejiang province will build 120,000 5G base stations by 2022 and increase its network capacity, local authorities said this week.

According to Li Min, deputy director of the Economy and Information Technology Department of Zhejiang, the province will promote the wide application of 5G in industrial manufacturing, urban governance, services related to people’s livelihood, culture and entertainment, and other fields.

Authorities said earlier that Zhejiang had built a total of 15,770 5G base stations as of the end of 2019. The added value of core industries in the province’s digital economy exceeded 622.89 billion yuan (over $95 billion) last year, accounting for 10 percent of the province’s GDP and up 14.5 percent year-on-year.

In total, Chinese telecom carriers have managed to build more than 600,000 new 5G base stations this year, in addition to about 100,000 5G stations built in 2019.

According to the Chinese Academy of Engineering, they are likely to build more than a million new 5G base stations next year. That would bring the total number of 5G base stations in China to more than 1.7 million by the end of 2021.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section