China is expected to become the largest 5G market in 2025, with 460 million connections

According to the report "5G Snapshot: CHINA" released by Business Insider, China is expected to become the largest 5G market with 460 million 5G connections by 2025. By then, the 5G services of China's three major state-owned operators will cover 65% of the population, and 5G will account for 29% of China's entire mobile communications. 

The China Academy of Information and Communications Technology estimates that China will invest 900 billion to 1.5 trillion yuan to develop 5G networks from 2020 to 2025.

The report states that becoming a global leader in 5G is a priority for China, especially after the country largely missed out on the opportunities of the 3G and 4G eras. In 2012, two years before China Mobile launched its 4G service, Chinese companies joined an international effort to promote 5G research and development. 5G development has become the core of China's "Made in China 2025" and the 13th Five-Year Plan. Seizing the market first is important for China and every country that wants to get ahead of the competition, as it helps the country become a leading technological innovation country and ultimately increase its global influence.

The report believes that China's 5G has two key parts: standards and spectrum. In terms of standards, SA independent networking is China's main goal, and China is promoting SA specifications to ensure that the most advanced infrastructure is launched first. Independent networking requires a lot of upfront investment to build a new 5G network, but SA networking enables 4G and 5G to run in parallel, eliminating the complexity of LTE integration. On the other hand, NSA networking uses existing infrastructure and deploys targeted small cells in high-density areas, which can enter the market faster than SA. Although China initially pushed the SA model, its decision to advance 5G commercialization to 2019 prompted some operators such as China Mobile to focus on the NSA model at the beginning because it was faster to execute.

In terms of spectrum, China will first launch low-frequency band 5G and use high-frequency bands as a supplement.

The report points out that compared with previous networking technologies, 5G networks require a large amount of continuous spectrum in the millimeter wave and mid-frequency bands to fully realize their potential. China has not yet allocated millimeter wave spectrum for 5G, but it is expected that China will allocate spectrum in the millimeter wave band this year or next year. By then, China may be close to the United States in terms of the amount of millimeter wave spectrum available. In terms of mid-frequency bands, it is expected that by the end of 2020, China will be the second in the world, with 500MHz band spectrum.