5G in China in 2026: 5.1 million base stations, flat telecom revenue, and what comes with 6G

At the end of June 2026, China had 5.102 million 5G base stations and 1.288 billion 5G mobile users, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). In the same half year, telecom operators’ revenue fell 2.1% to RMB 887.3 billion (IT Home, reporting MIIT data). The largest 5G network in the world is built, used by almost everybody, and the companies that built it earn a little less every year.

On paper, that looks like a failed investment. The data can give another perspective. Most of the value of 5G in China went somewhere else than the operators, and that is where brands and investors should look.

5G in China : key figures

How we got here : from “the 5G race” to the 5G routine

In 2020, our article on 5G development in China opened with a sentence typical of the time : “It seems nothing can stop China from leading in 5G development.” The conversation was about the race with the US, Huawei, and sanctions. Commercial 5G had started in late 2019, and the number of subscribers was rising fast.

Six years later, the race is over in China, at least for coverage. MIIT’s vice minister Xie Cun said in April 2026 that more than 95% of administrative villages have 5G, and that 5G covers 654,000 km of roads and railways and 316 metro lines (C114). As internet became prevalent in the late 1990s it quickly emerged across China, and 5G followed the same pattern, only faster.

One note on the user figure. 1.288 billion 5G users is close to the size of the population (around 1.41 billion), but these are SIM accounts, not people. China counts 1.844 billion mobile phone users in total, because many people carry two numbers. The share (69.9%) is the more useful figure.

The 5G paradox : more data, less revenue

Mobile data per user grew 13.6% in a year, to 23.57 GB a month in June 2026. Total mobile traffic grew 17.7% in the first half. Yet telecom revenue fell. China Mobile, the largest operator, reported mobile ARPU (average revenue per user) of RMB 48.0 for the first three quarters of 2025, roughly where it was before 5G (10jqka, reporting China Mobile).

Why? Mostly because Chinese operators compete on price, and because the state has asked them for years to raise speeds and cut fees (提速降费). The operators carry the infrastructure, and the extra data is consumed by apps : short videos on Douyin and Kuaishou, livestream shopping, cloud gaming, navigation, delivery apps. In other terms, 5G in China worked a bit like a highway built by the state : the toll stayed low, and the value went to the companies driving on it.

Where the value of 5G went

1. Content and commerce apps

The most visible beneficiaries are consumer apps. Livestream shopping, which needs a stable video upload from a warehouse, a farm or a mall, scaled during the 5G years. We described this in our pages on live streaming in China and the short video market. No doubt that the mobile internet in China is a major tool for promotion and other purposes, and 5G removed most of the friction.

Instant retail is another example. A rider app that tracks thousands of couriers and orders in real time in a city like Shanghai runs on mobile data. Our article on quick commerce in China shows how 30-minute delivery became a RMB 1 trillion business.

2. Industry, ports and mines

The second winner is industry. MIIT says 5G and gigabit fiber are used in 91 of the 97 national economic categories, and 5G applications run in more than 500 top-grade (三甲) hospitals and nearly 3,000 schools (C114). The typical case is not spectacular : remote-controlled cranes in a port, video quality inspection in a factory, private networks in a coal mine. We wrote about the factory side in AI technology in Chinese factories.

These projects rarely make headlines and the numbers are hard to verify, so we would treat them with care. A “5G factory” in an official report can mean anything from a full private network to a few connected cameras. Still, the direction is clear and it is where operators try to find the revenue that consumers do not pay.

3. Connected cars and the low-altitude economy

Chinese electric cars are among the most connected in the world, and carmakers sell software, navigation and entertainment on top of the car. See our article on Chinese automotive OEMs. Drones for delivery and inspection are the next layer, which we covered in China’s low-altitude economy. Both need dense, low-latency networks, which is exactly what 5G-Advanced is supposed to offer.

5G-Advanced : the upgrade nobody asked for, yet

5G-Advanced (5G-A, sometimes marketed as “5.5G”) was covering 330 cities at the end of March 2026, according to MIIT. It promises faster uplink, lower latency and better positioning. The operators market it with phones from Huawei, Xiaomi and others, and with faster plans sold at a premium.

The honest question is whether consumers will pay for it. Most users do not feel limited by 5G today. What we observe is that 5G-A makes more sense for specific uses : livestreaming from crowded venues, drones, cars, and factories. For a consumer brand, it is not a reason to change a strategy. For a company selling industrial equipment, connected devices or software, it can be. Huawei remains the central supplier, which we discussed in Huawei’s market strategy.

6G : trials started, commercial use around 2030

On 8 May 2026, MIIT approved the use of the 6 GHz band for 6G trials by the IMT-2030 (6G) Promotion Group, and Chinese media described China as the first country to grant such a trial license (Tencent News). The first phase of key technology trials ran from 2022 to 2025, the second phase started in 2026, and commercial use is expected around 2030.

The interesting part is not speed. The ITU target of 50 to 200 Gbps will matter for few people. 6G base stations are designed to combine communication with radar-like sensing, edge computing and AI. In other terms, the network would not only carry data, it would also “see” its environment. This is the part that matters for cars, drones and factories. We would not make predictions on dates beyond what the government has announced, but brands working on mobility, logistics or devices should follow it.

China is a huge market with a lot of potentials, but only for those who can sort out its complexities. The links between 5G, chips and cloud are a good example : see our articles on the semiconductor industry in China and cloud computing in China.

Daxue Overview

• 5G in China is built : 5.1 million base stations, 70% of mobile users, more than 95% of villages.
• Operators do not capture the value. Telecom revenue fell 2.1% in H1 2026 and ARPU is flat.
• The value went to apps (video, livestream, delivery) and to industrial uses.
• 5G-A and 6G target cars, drones and factories more than consumers.

Daxue Take

I would tend to think 5G in China should be read as infrastructure, like roads or power, more than as a telecom product. Nobody asks if a highway is profitable for the company that poured the concrete. The question is what traffic it created.

For foreign companies, we see two different situations. A consumer brand can assume that its Chinese customers are always online, watch video everywhere and expect real-time service. A B2B company selling into factories, ports, hospitals or cars faces a more complex market, with Chinese suppliers, local standards and state-owned buyers. The first is about marketing. The second is about partners and positioning.

Daxue Recommendations

• Consumer brands : design content for mobile video first, including in tier-3 and rural markets.
• B2B companies : map the Chinese ecosystem (Huawei, ZTE, operators, integrators) before choosing a partner.
• Treat official “5G application” figures as direction, not as market size. Check projects one by one.
• Follow 6G trials if you work on cars, drones or industrial sensing. The standards will be set in the next few years.

FAQ

How many 5G base stations does China have?
5.102 million at the end of June 2026, or 39.1% of all mobile base stations, according to MIIT.

How many people use 5G in China?
China counted 1.288 billion 5G mobile users (SIM accounts) at the end of June 2026, 69.9% of all mobile users.

What is 5G-A?
5G-Advanced, an upgrade of 5G with faster uplink and lower latency. It covered 330 Chinese cities at the end of March 2026.

When will 6G arrive in China?
Trials are running in 2026 under an MIIT license. Commercial use is expected around 2030.

As a conclusion, China won the 5G build-out but its operators did not win much money from it. The winners are elsewhere, in apps, factories and cars. Where does 5G actually create value in your business in China?

About the author

Matthieu David is the founder and CEO of Daxue Consulting. He arrived in China in 2009, founded Daxue in Beijing in 2012 and hosts the China Paradigm podcast. He has advised more than 400 companies on their China market strategy.