The number of 5G mobile subscribers in China exceeded one billion at the end of November, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said on Monday.
In total, there are 1.002 billion 5G mobile subscribers in the country, accounting for 56 percent of the total number of mobile users, who are customers of China Mobile, China Unicom, China Telecom, and China Broadnet. This marks a 9.4 percentage point increase in the share of 5G subscribers compared to the end of last year.
China's total number of mobile subscribers stood at 1.79 billion at the end of November, representing a net increase of 46.82 million from the end of the previous year, according to the MIIT.
As the country has made significant strides in advancing its network infrastructure - deploying 5G stations, gigabit optical networks, and the Internet of Things (IoT) - the number of connected users has grown, and mobile network data traffic has surged.
By the end of November, the total number of 5G base stations across China reached 4.191 million, up by 815,000 compared to the end of the prior year, the ministry said.
Meanwhile, the number of internet broadband access ports rose to 1.2 billion, marking a net increase of 63.6 million from the end of the previous year.
Data also indicated steady growth in cumulative revenue from the telecommunications sector. In the first 11 months of the year, the revenue reached 1.59 trillion yuan (about 217.83 billion U.S. dollars), reflecting a 2.6-percent year-on-year increase. When adjusted for last year's prices, the telecom revenue grew by 10 percent.
China's 5G mobile subscribers exceed 1 billion
China's financial sector made new progress in 2024, contributing to the realization of the annual economic and social development goals, China's Minister of Finance Lan Fo'an said at the National Financial Work Conference which ran from Monday to Tuesday in Beijing.
So far this year, the Ministry of Finance has stepped up efforts to implement a series of fiscal policies to boost the economy, including issuing 1-trillion-yuan (about 139 billion U.S. dollar) worth of ultra-long-term special treasury bonds to raise funds for the implementation of major national strategies and to build up security capacity in key areas, and adopting financial interest subsidy policies for equipment renewal loans.
"We have rolled out a package of incremental policies, issued special treasury bonds to help large state-owned commercial banks replenish their core tier-1 capital, specified tax policies in line with the elimination of the standards for ordinary and non-ordinary housing, and promoted the issuance of exclusive bonds designed to support land reserves and the government acquisition of existing commercial housing projects for use as government-subsidized homes, among others. In addition, we have also managed to raise the minimum level of financial aid to university students, and enlarge the coverage of the relevant policies. These efforts have effectively boosted public confidence and contributed to promoting economic rebound in a remarkable way," Lan told the meeting.
According to Lan, China will adopt a more proactive fiscal policy in 2025, including setting a higher deficit-to-GDP ratio, and increasing the intensity of fiscal spending, and increasing the issuance of ultra-long-term special treasury bonds and special-purpose bonds for local governments.
"Next year, we will raise the deficit-to-GDP ratio to ensure further increase in total fiscal expenditure. We will also issue ultra-long-term special treasury bonds on a larger scale than this year, aiming to further support projects for implementing major national strategies and building up security capacity in key areas, as well as for implementing large-scale equipment upgrades and consumer goods trade-in programs. Efforts will be made to expand the scale of special-purpose bonds for local governments, along with optimizing and improving the management mechanism for such bonds. A negative list will be worked out to specify areas where special-purpose bonds can be allocated, and the range of their use as project capital will be expanded," he said.
China's financial sector makes progress in 2024, supporting development goals: minister
