China Mobile targets steady build-out of 5G infrastructure from 2018

The operator’s 5G field tests this year will cover Guangzhou, Chengdu, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Beijing

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An attendee uses a smartphone to take a photograph of an Axon 7 smartphone, manufactured by ZTE Corp, on the opening day of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona on Monday. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 8:00pm, 1 Mar 2017Updated: 4:28pm, 25 Nov 2017

China Mobile plans to begin development of trial 5G networks in major mainland Chinese cities from next year, expand these deployments in 2019 and launch commercial services in 2020, according to its chief executive Li Yue.

The world’s largest mobile network operator officially presented its 5G build-out timetable at two separate events on Tuesday in Barcelona, Spain, which showed the mainland’s resolve to drive global adoption of this advanced new mobile system.

In a session for 5G development on the second day of the Mobile World Congress conference, Li reiterated the commitment of China Mobile to push forward with 5G outdoor testing this year.

The Hong Kong-listed company last week announced that it would conduct over-the-air field trials on the mainland’s 3.5-gigahertz spectrum band in the second half of this year, using products from ZTE Corp and Qualcomm Technologies.

Liu Guangyi, the chief technology officer for wireless development at the China Mobile Research Institute, told participants at the 5G innovation sharing forum hosted in Barcelona by Huawei Technologies that the operator will be working with different telecommunications equipment suppliers in its 5G field tests.

Those include ZTE in Guangzhou, Ericsson and Datang Telecom in Beijing, Nokia in Hangzhou, and Huawei in Shanghai and Chengdu, according to an RCR Wireless report.