On November 26, at the opening ceremony of the 2020 World 5G Conference, Liu Liehong, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), stated that China has preliminarily achieved large-scale commercial deployment of its 5G standalone (SA) network, with coverage extending across all prefecture-level and above cities as well as key county-level cities.
According to available data, as of October this year, over 700,000 5G base stations have been activated cumulatively, and the number of connected terminals has exceeded 180 million. The joint construction and sharing initiative has yielded positive results: over 97% of 5G base stations are sharing existing site locations. To date, a total of 253 terminal models have received network access certification in China, including 218 5G smartphones; smartphone prices have gradually declined to around RMB 1,500, with further downward room remaining. Diverse, multi-form, and multi-functional 5G-enabled general-purpose terminals continue to achieve breakthroughs: ten 5G module models have already obtained network access certification domestically, and several 5G modules have entered commercial use.
Last updated: 2026-03-08