China 5G: 172,000 in 2019, 5M next 6 years

24 January 2019

The three Chinese giants expect to install 172,000 base stations in 2019. That's more than the entire networks of Verizon & AT&T, combined. Officially, this is "non-commercial." It probably will be more than twice the entire rest of the world.

Under the direction of Minister Miao Wei, one of the best regulators in the world, the Chinese will be building 5G and edge clouds at an (almost) unbelievable pace. China Tower, owned by the three companies, is talking about bringing 5G to two million sites by 2022-2023.

That would mean 5G - and ~20 ms edge clouds will reach 70+% of China within four years, hundreds of millions of homes. 

Huawei and ZTE will probably get a third of the orders each. That likely means they will be making more base stations than anyone else. Datang, now controlled by Fiberhome, is also hopeful.

Thanks to Bing Doan of Nomura for confirming those figures. I hope he will be allowed to add me to his list.