BEIJING — China's three major telecom operators will pilot 5G technology in several cities during the second half of this year, the Economic Information Daily reported Wednesday.

The pilot projects will be carried out in cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Suzhou, and Ningbo, the Xinhua-run newspaper said, citing sources from the telecom giants, namely China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom.

The companies will test the 5G technology, build base stations, and launch applications such as autonomous driving, smart cities, and smart homes based on the network, according to the report.

The pilot programs will be expanded to another 10 or more cities in provinces including Jiangxi, Hainan, Shanxi, Shandong, Zhejiang, and Hebei in the future, it said.

The moves will help China play a leading role in developing the global 5G standard and pave the way for commercialization and further development of the technology, the newspaper said.

China plans to commercialize 5G mobile networks, which provide much faster connectivity and lower energy consumption, as early as 2020.