China rocketing on information superhighway

2. Front-runner in the era of 5G

A visitor experiences a 5G enhanced mobile broadband virtual reality game at PT Expo China in Beijing, Sept 20, 2016. [Photo/VCG]

China is moving to the forefront of the fifth-generation, or 5G, in mobile communication technology, with the number of 4G users exceeding 849 million as of April, according to MIIT.

Aiming to put 5G into full commercial use as early as 2020, China established the IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group in 2013 to coordinate the industry's efforts.

The country has established the world's largest 5G test field in Beijing's Huairou district, having technology giants such as Huawei Technologies, ZTE Corp and Qualcomm Inc participating in the test programs.

Domestic telecom carriers China Telecom and China Unicom announced in June that they will achieve the pre-commercial use of 5G network by 2019. In March, China Mobile said it plans to finish the testing this year, conduct trial operations in 2018 and achieve commercial use by 2020.

The China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) predicted in a report that 5G will drive 6.3 trillion yuan ($930 billion) in economic output in China by 2030, generating 2.9 trillion yuan of economic value added and 8 million new jobs.