Year in review: China's major scientific and infrastructure achievements

China enters commercial 5G era

China officially kicked off commercialization of 5G services on Oct 31, with the nation's big three telecom operators rolling out their 5G data plans.

The move means consumers can now pay to access superfast 5G speeds as more than 86,000 5G base stations have already entered service in China, covering 50 cities nationwide.

China is set to become the world's largest 5G market by 2025, with 460 million 5G users, according to a forecast by the Global System for Mobile Communications Association, a global telecom association.