June 6: Crucial step forward taken for 5G with commercial licenses

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on June 6 officially rolled out commercial 5G licenses, making a crucial step for next-generation 5G commercial use.

The ministry granted licenses to the nation's major three telecom carriers — China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom — as well as the state-owned China Broadcasting Network Corp.

The move marks an accelerated push by China in 5G application. Its previous plan was to commercialize the technology in 2020.

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

The country's telecom carriers are forecasted to spend 900 billion to 1.5 trillion yuan ($134 billion to $223 billion) in total on 5G network construction from 2020 to 2025, according to a report from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.