China's total telecom revenue topped 1.7 trillion yuan (233.45 billion U.S. dollars) in 2024, with a 10 percent year-on-year growth in the annual telecom service volume, according to a senior official from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on Tuesday.
Speaking at a press conference in Beijing, Xie Cun, director of the Information and Communication Development Department of the MIIT, said that since the beginning of 2024, China has accelerated the development of new information infrastructure, such as the 5G and industrial internet, fostering greater integration of the telecom service with the real economy.
He said that the country's information and communication industry is expected to achieve upgrade in network evolution, integrated application and innovation capability.
"In 2025, efforts will continue to focus on the 'construction, application and research' strategy, aiming to achieve three key upgrades in the development of the information and communication industry. These include network evolution upgrades, improvement of the 'dual-gigabit' network policy, pilot establishment of the 10 gigabit optical network, and orderly optimization of the layout for computing power centers," he said.
In terms of integrated application upgrade, China will launch in 2025 the "Set Sail" Action Plan for 5G Applications and "5G + industrial internet" upgrades, accelerating all-around and full-chain application of new-generation information technologies, according to officials with the MIIT.
In the area of innovation capability upgrades, efforts will focus on increasing investment in the evolution of 5G and 6G technology innovations, and gradually opening the telecom sector wider to foreign investment when conditions are ripe, said the officials.
Operating revenue of China's telecom sector tops 1.7 trillion yuan in 2024
