China’s 5G market set to expand, fuel economic growth as tech solidifies status as pillar industry

In its The Mobile Economy China 2024 report, the GSMA said the country’s entire mobile sector has so far provided a total of nearly 8 million jobs directly and indirectly, and generated US$110 billion in tax revenue in 2023 alone.

China’s smartphone market recovers in 2023 amid Huawei’s 5G handset comeback

5G adoption in China “is growing faster than anticipated due to the speed of network deployments and a maturing device ecosystem”, the GSMA said, projecting that the number of 5G connections will surpass 1.6 billion by 2030, nearly a third of the global total.

By the end of last year, China’s 5G users numbered 810 million for an adoption rate of 45 per cent as a proportion of total mobile users. Only the US and South Korea ranked higher.

In absolute terms, however, China has the world’s most mobile phone users by a wide margin. As of the end of last year, there were 122.5 mobile phones for every 100 people, according to figures from the National Bureau of Statistics.

At the same time, the number of 5G base stations was nearly 3.38 million – a surge of 46 per cent from a year earlier.

“China continues to set the pace for cutting-edge 5G technology standards”, the GSMA said, adding the country’s operators are “leading the way” in the transition to 5G-advanced and 5G reduced capability networks.

“This is anticipated to kick-start a new round of 5G investment in 2024 and beyond.”

Though 6G has not yet been formally standardised, China Mobile, the world’s largest telecoms operator in terms of mobile subscribers, announced last month that it successfully launched the world’s first satellite to test 6G architecture.