China’s 5G mobile service debuts to lack of applause from customers
- Too costly, too sparse, too slow for some users but phone prices expected to start falling next year
- China Unicom, China Telecom and China Mobile launch new service in 50 major cities
The highly anticipated debut of commercial 5G across China on Friday was underwhelming for some customers, who questioned the high price of the new high-speed data networks.
“A 5G phone, a city with 5G network, and being able to pay for the data package,” wrote one user on Weibo, the Chinese social media platform. “I’m missing all three requirements.”
Another, in Zhengzhou, capital of central China’s Henan province, was disappointed by the first day of the roll-out: “The coverage is pretty wide in Zhengzhou, but it isn’t as fast as I thought.”
China and the US are engaged in a race for technological dominance and 5G has been cited as a key battleground for key military and security strategic use. China is expected to invest more than US$150 billion in 5G by 2025, according to Goldman Sachs.
On the commercial side, hundreds of thousands of 5G base towers were set up across the country – including 10,000 in Beijing alone, according to the city’s communication administration bureau – in preparation for Friday’s launch in 50 major cities by the country’s three largest telecom operators, China Unicom, China Telecom and China Mobile.
Since September, users have been able to search for network coverage in Baidu maps, a popular navigation app. While Beijing is covered in blue, which signals coverage, there appear to be large gaps in other cities like Qingdao, in China’s eastern province of Shandong.