China built 600,000 5G base stations in three months when it took US two years to build 100,000

5G penetration in China

As with any wireless technology, the number of base stations determines the coverage and capacity. China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) set itself an ambitious goal of installing three million of them by the end of the year.

Over the last three months, more than 600,000 installations were completed to achieve the target six months prior and leaving the US far behind in absolute numbers of base stations.

As per the latest data, the country now has 2.937 million base stations that enable connections to 676 million devices and over two billion users of mobile Internet of Things (IoT) terminals such as smart home appliances, industrial sensors, and wearables, the SCMP report said.

In addition to the government push, the rapid expansion in the number of base stations is also thanks to the declining prices of 5G modules in the country. Currently, the module costs 400 yuan (US$ 55) and consumes about 20 percent lesser energy during operation when compared to its predecessors.

Infrastructure not for streaming videos

The rollout of 5G has been significantly slower in other parts of the globe since existing 4G networks have also been able to hit 5G-like speeds of 1 Gigabit per second. Since these speeds can address the current needs of consumers, doubts are being raised about whether investments in the 5G rollout are needed when economies are in turmoil.

Tao Qing, the director of MIIT, is not looking at 5G as a tool to enable the streaming of videos. Instead, the networks have led to the creation of digital workshops and smart factories where productivity has risen by a third.

Speaking to the SCMP, Tao added that factory product development cycles had reduced by a fifth while production efficiencies had improved by nearly 35 percent. Defective rates of products had decreased by 27 percent in these 5G-enabled smart factories, which was also contributing to a reduction in carbon emissions, she added.

Zhao Zhiguo, the spokesperson for MIIT, detailed that 5G adoption and integration was now a part of 40 sectors in China's economy. In more than 1,000 industrial parks, Chinese enterprises were using the technology to improve global competitiveness.

In areas where the technology is available, it is also being used to monitor traffic, environmental conditions, and energy consumption and execute smarter allocation of resources, the report said.