Shenzhen will have built 45,000 5G base stations and be fully covered by 5G networks with measured peak speed exceeding 1Gbps by August, according to Shenzhen Special Zone Daily.
The commercialization of 5G has also picked up pace. To date, each of China’s three major telecom operators — China Unicom, China Mobile and China Telecom — have launched their own 5G trial packages.
China Unicom, for instance, announced that it will offer users 100 gigabytes of free 5G data every month in its short-term 5G trial package.
According to the head of the Shenzhen branch of China Unicom, the recently launched 5G plan has increased the data volume but not the price. The 5G data package costs a minimum of 129 yuan (US$18.25) and users can enjoy a maximum of 300 gigabytes nationwide.
Xu Ximing, deputy general manager of the marketing department of China Mobile, said that users don’t have to register or change their SIM cards or phone numbers to use the carrier’s 5G networks.
China Telecom has also basically determined the prices for each category of its 5G package, according to a person familiar with the matter. The fees are expected to range from 199 yuan to 599 yuan, and the data volume will be much larger than the current standard.
Nevertheless, a 5G mobile phone and a 5G data package are indispensable if users really want to enjoy the high speed of 5G networks, the head of the Shenzhen branch of China Unicom said.
It is reported that the automatic switching between 5G and 4G networks will be the standard configuration of all 5G mobile phones in the future. That said, a 5G mobile phone will automatically adapt to 4G networks in a place that doesn’t have 5G coverage.
As of Sept. 6, more than 7,493 5G base stations had been built in Shenzhen. The goal of building 15,000 base stations will be accomplished within the year.