On September 9, China Unicom and China Telecom held a meeting in Beijing celebrating the one-year anniversary of their 5G network co-construction and sharing program. Over the last year, the two operators jointly launched over 300 thousand 5G base stations, which could save them an estimation of over RMB 60 billion of construction investment, allowing them to achieve 5G network coverage rapidly with the smallest investment within the shortest time.
Both operators stated that they would, adhering to the orientation towards a SA 5G networking framework, strive to forge a technologically advanced 5G network, actively push forward network upgrading deployment, and continuously engage in performance verification as well as collaborative optimization of the co-constructed, shared SA network. In order to promote synchronic commercialization of the SA terminals and network, both operators launched a special campaign coordinating the chip and terminal suppliers in carrying out end-to-end cross networking compatibility testing and verification, in a joint effort to further mature and improve the SA industrial chain in striving for realizing basic SA commercial network capability before September 30.