Carrier sets targets for gaining 5G customers

China Mobile said on Friday that it aims to secure 70 million 5G subscribers, and sell 100 million 5G smartphones next year, as the nation's largest mobile carrier scrambles to lead the commercialization of the superfast wireless technology.

Meanwhile, the State-owned company said it will invest 20 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) next year to build a robust ecosystem for the use of 5G in more sectors. It is part of China Mobile's broader promise to invest 100 billion yuan into key areas of 5G cooperation over the next five years.

Yang Jie, chairman of China Mobile, said "the 5G butterfly has started fanning its wings, which will have a broader economic and social impact."

According to him, half of the 20-billion-yuan budget in 2020 will be poured into motivating hardware and software developers to create more 5G applications for consumers, while the other half will be invested to encourage industrial use of the superfast technology.

"5G is an amplifier and it can integrate with artificial intelligence, the internet of things, block chain and other technologies to generate a multiplier effect," Yang said.

China kicked off the commercialization of 5G services on Oct 31, with China Mobile and two of its smaller rivals rolling out their 5G data plans.

China Mobile said 50,000 of its 5G base stations have already entered service, with 5G signals available in 50 cities, and more than 10 million users having booked its 5G data packages.

China pioneers the world in the scale and diversity of its 5G services, with individual consumers and enterprises showing mounting enthusiasm for the new technology, according to the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, a government think tank.

In September alone, about 497,000 China-made 5G smartphones were purchased by retailers, beating expectations, the think tank said.

As cross-sector cooperation is vital to the success of 5G, China Mobile has set up 23 open laboratories by partnering with companies from transportation, energy, gaming and other sectors, and has already supported 50 pilot 5G industrial applications.

Liang Hua, chairman of Huawei Technologies, the world's largest telecom equipment maker, said 5G is not just a faster 4G. It will fundamentally reshape how enterprises run businesses and overhaul a wide range of industries by using data to create more value.

The new-generation tech can enable downloading of 8GB movies in seconds and make self-driving vehicles and remote surgeries a reality. It is already being used as pilot projects in some manufacturing plants in southeast China to boost productivity.

Lei Jun, chairman of smartphone vendor Xiaomi Corp, said the company will launch about 10 5G smartphone models next year and will cover all mid-and high-end types.

China is set to become the world's largest 5G market, with 460 million 5G users by 2025, according to a forecast by the Global System for Mobile Communications Association, a global telecom association.