Data released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on August 28 showed that the country has steadily expanded its 5G network infrastructure this year. By the end of July, the total number of mobile phone subscribers across the three major telecom operators and China Broadcasting Network reached 1.847 billion, of which 1.303 billion were 5G users, accounting for 70.5% of all mobile subscribers.
In the first seven months, the construction of new infrastructure progressed in an orderly manner, according to the data. By the end of July, the total number of 5G base stations stood at 5.154 million, a net increase of 316,000 from the end of last year. The country's total broadband access ports reached 1.27 billion, with fiber-optic (FTTH/O) ports accounting for 1.23 billion – up by 19.35 million from end-2025 and representing 96.7% of all broadband access ports.
Mobile internet traffic continued to grow at a robust pace. Cumulative mobile data traffic in the January–July period hit 258.7 billion GB, up 17.6% year-on-year. The user base for Internet of Things (IoT) and other services also expanded steadily. By the end of July, the three major operators had 2.993 billion cellular IoT terminal subscribers, a net increase of 105 million from the end of last year. IPTV and OTT subscribers numbered 409 million, a net rise of 683,000 over the same period.
Fixed broadband subscribers continued to migrate toward gigabit-speed services. By end-July, the three major operators had a total of 702 million fixed broadband subscribers, of which 260 million were on plans with access speeds of 1000 Mbps or above – a net increase of 21.98 million from end-2025. That segment now accounts for 37.1% of all fixed broadband users, up 2.6 percentage points from the end of last year.