5G business continues to advance rapidly, and it is expected that by 2025, China's 5G connections will account for 40% of the world

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According to GSMA think tank statistics, as of the end of the third quarter of 2021, the number of 5G networks in the world has grown to 176, and the number of 5G connections has reached about 550 million. Among them, China's 5G connections account for 78% of the world's total 5G connections, about 430 million. By the end of 2021, nearly 8% of the world's consumer groups, about 640 million users, will use 5G. The continuous network construction of operators plays a vital role.

It is expected that by the end of 2021, the 5G penetration rate in South Korea and China will exceed 30%, accounting for 32% and 30% of the total mobile connections respectively. It is expected that by 2025, the total number of 5G connections in China will reach 865 million, accounting for 40% of the total number of 5G connections in the world, and China's 5G penetration rate will exceed 50%.

Against the backdrop of the rapid global deployment of 5G, the revenue structure of global operators has changed. In addition to traditional telecommunications revenue, revenue from new services has increased significantly, and China's performance in revenue growth has been particularly impressive.

In 2020, the proportion of traditional telecom business revenue in total revenue dropped to 76%, while the proportion of new business revenue outside traditional telecom business increased to 24%. Among them, China's revenue growth outside traditional telecom business leads the world. In 2020, the average year-on-year growth rate of global operators' revenue outside traditional telecom business was 9%, while China's figure reached 26%, far higher than the global average. 5G is an important catalyst and driving force.

China's three major operators, China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom, doubled their revenue outside of traditional businesses in 2020 compared with 2017 to RMB 230 billion, with the growth of B2B business being the main driving force. Cloud revenue increased sevenfold from 2017 to 2020, and revenue from the Internet of Things and data each doubled.