A staff member tests the speed with a Huawei 5G mobile phone at Huawei 5G Innovation and Experience Center in London, Britain, on Jan. 28, 2020. (Xinhua/Han Yan)
Telecom equipment solution providers Huawei, ZTE, Datang Mobile, and Ericsson, won the bid for the joint procurement of wireless master equipment for 5G SA in 2020 by China Unicom and China Telecom, according to China Unicom's website, indicating China's pledge to accelerate 5G network construction.
According to the bidding result, Huawei is the first winner with the total quoted price of 65.9 billion yuan ($9.31 billion), followed by ZTE with 32.9 billion yuan, Ericsson, and Datang ranked third and fourth, respectively. Though, the result did not detail the percentage of each bidder.
According to the website, China Unicom and China Telecom will purchase 250,000 5G stations and 5G equipment, including SA, BBU, and AAU wireless master devices, which follows the trend as China has determined to expedite 5G development and pushed the process of 5G commercial use.
On Saturday, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) announced to enhance its support for building a robust 5G network in China while pushing forward making an internet security system for 5G network, industrial internet, and data centers.
As of the end of March, China has built 198,000 5G stations, and 5G combo users had reached 50 million nationwide. By the end of 2020, 500,000 5G stations are expected to be ready in China, according to MIIT.