China races from 5G to 6G with nearly five million base stations already built nationwide

China is channelling its 5G technology ambitions in a direction firmly aimed at economic growth, with the country's information and communications network undergoing rapid and sweeping expansion.

Authorities are accelerating the transition from standard 5G to 5G-Advanced (5G-A) whilst simultaneously laying the groundwork for future 6G commercialisation.

A network of staggering scale

By the end of March, China had constructed 4.958 million 5G base stations, whilst the total length of its optical fibre network had reached 74.99 million kilometres.

Approximately two in every three mobile phone users across the country are now connected to 5G, making China home to the world's largest and most technologically advanced communications network.

The leap to 5G-Advanced

5G-A is widely regarded as an enhanced evolution of existing 5G infrastructure. China's 5G-A network has already extended its reach to 330 cities nationwide.

Compared with standard 5G, the upgraded technology delivers significant improvements in uplink capabilities, enabling considerably faster data uploads alongside the high-speed downloads that 5G already provides.

The country is also looking beyond the current "dual-gigabit" era — a term referring to gigabit-level mobile and broadband speeds — and is actively working towards a future "dual-10-gigabit" network infrastructure.

To date, 168 residential communities, factories, and industrial parks spread across 86 cities have commenced pilot programmes for 10-gigabit optical networks.

Ambitious targets for 2026–2030

During China's 15th Five-Year Plan period, covering 2026 to 2030, the country intends to construct an additional 500,000 5G-A base stations alongside one million high-speed optical network ports, underscoring the scale of its long-term infrastructure ambitions.

6G on the horizon

Looking further ahead, 6G technology is anticipated to enter commercial use around 2030. By 2035, the emerging sector is projected to generate industries worth trillions of yuan, bringing together artificial intelligence, sensing systems, and satellite communications into next-generation connectivity infrastructure.

Enormous economic dividends

The expansion of China's communications infrastructure has already delivered substantial economic benefits.

During the first five years of 5G commercialisation, the technology directly contributed approximately 5.6 trillion yuan — equivalent to around $824 billion — in economic output, whilst indirectly generating a further 14 trillion yuan.

Network upgrades are also providing a considerable boost to related industrial supply chains. In February, China's optical fibre exports reached 790 million yuan, representing a year-on-year increase of 126.8%.

Exports of optical modules also continued to climb, rising by around 30% in the first quarter compared with the same period the previous year.

The backbone of China's digital economy

From nearly five million 5G base stations to a fast-approaching 6G era, China's communications network is evolving into an ever-faster digital highway — one that is rapidly becoming the central backbone of the country's broader digital economy.