Overview:

China’s MIIT issued 5G licenses for commercial use to China’s three major operators in June 2019, marking the start of the 5G era in China. China has aggressively pushed for the development of 5G networks in China, installing over 680,000 5G base stations as of Sep 2020. Major Chinese smartphone OEMs have also quickly followed suit and shifted a large part of their portfolios from 4G to 5G. With efforts from both the operators and smartphone OEMs, China currently has the largest 5G subscriber base in the world and is expected to further increase as 5G smartphone price point trickles down to low-to-mid price tiers in 2021.