China Unicom expects the number of 5G base stations to reach 700,000 by the end of this year

China Unicom recently released its financial results, with main business revenue of 275.8 billion yuan, up 4.3% year-on-year, and net profit of 12.525 billion yuan, up 11.2% year-on-year. At the same time, it was revealed that the number of 5G package users reached 70.83 million, and the penetration rate of 5G package users reached 23%.

China Unicom said that in 2020, China Unicom's electricity expenditure increased by 5% compared with the previous year, which was generally within controllable range. China Unicom has taken three measures to reduce 5G electricity costs. First, some old equipment such as 2G are retired to reduce energy consumption; second, low-energy consumption equipment is selected as much as possible during procurement to reduce total energy consumption; third, the total number of base stations that China Unicom needs to bear is reduced through joint construction and sharing.

It is reported that the scale of 5G base stations jointly built and shared by China Telecom and China Unicom has reached 380,000, and is expected to reach 700,000 by the end of this year, and may exceed 1 million next year. China Unicom has accelerated the withdrawal of 2G network, and 3G will need to be retained for a period of time, mainly in areas where 5G cannot cover, and 3G is still needed to meet the voice needs of some users.