BEIJING: China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said on Monday the country has set up a total of nearly 1.43 million 5G base stations as of the end of 2021. The nation now hosts over 60% of the global network.

According to the ministry, about ten 5G base stations are currently serving every 10,000 people in China – nearly double the number at the end of 2020. The government’s investment in 5G reached 184.9 billion yuan (about $29 billion) last year.

The ministry said that China aims to expand 5G services and gigabit fiber-optic networks in 2022, with its 5G users expected to exceed 560 million by 2023. At that rate, every 10,000 people in the country would be served by more than 18 base stations.

China continues to lead global growth in the next generation of telecommunications technology with the expansion of its 5G network. Major Chinese mobile operators began providing fifth-generation communication services to their customers in October 2019.

Throughout 2020, some 580,000 5G base stations were installed in the country, with the network covering all major cities. While many countries around the globe are only starting to embrace 5G technology, Chinese tech giant Huawei last year announced plans to roll out its successor 6G network, which it aims to introduce to the market by 2030.

Meanwhile, China’s centrally-administered state-owned enterprises (SOEs) saw double-digit revenues and profit growth in the first month of this year, showed official data Monday.

Net profits of central SOEs expanded by 10.2 percent from a year ago to 142.38 billion Yuan (about $22.36 billion) in January, said the state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council. The central SOEs raked in 3 trillion yuan in combined revenues in the first month of 2022, an increase of 12.4 percent year on year, according to the SASAC.