It will take China about seven years to build 6 million 5G base stations nationwide, at a total cost of 1.2 trillion yuan ($171 billion) to 1.5 trillion yuan, which means that the nation will have full 5G coverage by 2027.
China will have built at least 150,000 5G base stations by the end of the year, covering more than 40 pilot cities nationwide, said Li Yizhong, former minister of Industry and Information Technology, during a forum.
Bernstein Research estimates South Korea will be have 75,000 base stations for 5G at the end of 2019, followed by the US with 10,000.
China will be the largest 5G market in the world by 2025, accounting for 30 percent of global connectivity, said a report released by the China Center for International Economic Exchanges.
Xiaomi opened presales of the world's cheapest 5G mobile phone -- the Redmi K30 -- on Monday, at a price of 1,999 yuan ($285).
5G terminals will be dominated by mobile phones in the near future, but the proportion of other terminal products will increase significantly, such as wearable devices, drones and more exotic industrial devices.