China Telecom and China Unicom have reached a tentative agreement to jointly build a 5G network
China Telecom and China Unicom have reached a tentative agreement to jointly build a 5G network and share network infrastructure. China Unicom’s chairman said that sharing infrastructure could result in CapEx savings of between 25 to 34 billion EUR.
Furthermore, China’s largest telco China Mobile could be included in the initiative to deploy shared 5G infrastructure in low population density areas. The three Chinese operators co-own a tower company, China Tower Corp.
China Telecom said earlier in YE2019 that it planned to invest 9 billion CNY (1.14 billion EUR) and build 40,000 5G base stations by the end of the year, in line with China Unicom’s plans. China Mobile said it would deploy 50,000 bases stations and invest 24 billion CNY (3 billion EUR) this year.
In June 2019, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) officially issued licenses for the launch of commercial 5G networks in the country. MNOs are likely to launch 5G in 2020. Pre-commercial launches are however expected late in 2019.
