China’s state-owned service providers on Thursday launched ‘one of the world’s largest’ 5G data plans.
China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom have launched the 5g network.
South Korea, the US and the UK have all rolled out their next generation 5G networks this year, BBC reported.
5G is the fifth-generation of mobile internet connectivity.
It promises much faster data download and upload speeds, wider coverage and more stable connections.
The Chinese carriers had initially scheduled the launch for next year, but accelerated the rollout.
The superfast service is now available to consumers in 50 Chinese cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, with prices for monthly plans ranging from 128 yuan ($18; £14) to 599 yuan, according to state media Xinhua.
More than 130,000 5G base stations will be activated by the end of the year to support the 5G network, the government said in the statement.
This would make it one of the world’s largest 5G deployments, it said.
China and the US have been fighting for leadership in the technology sector in recent months, with Chinese tech giant Huawei at the centre of their power struggle.