China will issue 5G licenses in 'near future'

China will issue commercial 5G licenses “in the near future”, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said on Monday.

5G services offer connection speeds 20 to 50 times faster than current networks. Direct investment will hit 1 trillion yuan (US$147 million).

China holds about 30 percent of 5G technology patents. Nokia, Ericsson, Qualcomm and Intel have carried out research and tests in China to share China’s achievements, said the ministry, according to Xinhua News Agency.

Telecommunications gear shares surged in the stock market with the news. ZTE Corp, China’s biggest public telecommunications equipment maker, was up 5.32 percent on Monday, compared with a 0.74 percent drop of the Shenzhen Index overall.

Chinese mobile carriers are expected to invest 1.2 trillion yuan in 5G by 2025, according to Nomura.

Huawei, the world’s biggest telecommunications equipment vendor, has obtained 40 overseas contracts, 25 from Europe.