China has built nearly 700,000 5G base stations, more than twice the total installation in the rest of the world, official data showed.
The number of terminal devices connected to the network has exceeded 180 million, as well-developed infrastructure facilitates more 5G-based applications, said Liu Liehong, vice-minister of industry and information technology.
In the next three years, the country is expected to be at the introduction stage of 5G development, so it is necessary to make proactive moves in construction.
Liu said 5G is playing an important role, especially in stabilizing investment, promoting consumption and fostering new drivers of economic development.
During the first 10 months, 5G mobile phone shipments reached 124 million units with a total of 183 new models coming to market.
Industrial output
China’s industrial output saw further growth in October as factory production continued to expand amid effective Covid-19 control and government policies to boost demand and consumption.
China’s value-added industrial output, an important economic indicator, went up 6.9% year-on-year in October, the same as that of September, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Monday.
On a month-on-month basis, industrial output rose 0.78% in October. In the first 10 months, industrial output expanded 1.8% from one year earlier, compared with an increase of 1.2% in the first three quarters, NBS data showed.
Output in the production and supply of electricity, thermal power, gas and water rose 4%, while the mining sector saw output up by 3.5%. Among the bright spots was equipment manufacturing, which logged a 10.8% increase year on year in October, outpacing the overall industrial output growth.
Foreign direct investment
Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Chinese mainland, in actual use, expanded 18.3% year-on-year to 81.87 billion yuan (about $12.4 billion) in October, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Monday.
This marked the 7th consecutive month for the country to see positive growth in FDI. In the first 10 months, FDI growth was 6.4% year-on-year, quickening from the 5.2% gain seen in the first three quarters, the MOC data showed.
Foreign investment in the service industry came in at 625.8 billion yuan during the January-October period, up 16.2% year-on-year, while that in the high-tech service sector increased 27.8%.
Bond Connect program
The trading volume under China’s Bond Connect program in October reached 273.7 billion yuan ($41.29 billion), according to a monthly report released by Bond Connect Co Ltd.
The program saw a total of 3,743 trade tickets, with an average daily turnover of 17.1 billion yuan last month, the report showed. By the end of October, the program had 2,244 approved investors, including 74 of the top 100 global asset management companies.
The Bond Connect program, launched in July 2017, is a mutual market access scheme that allows overseas investors to invest in the Chinese mainland’s interbank bond market using financial institutions on the mainland and in Hong Kong.
Company news
China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) has unloaded Al Mafyar, the world’s largest liquified natural gas (LNG) carrier, for the first time as it berthed in north China’s Tianjin Municipality.
Measuring 345 meters long and 53.8 meters wide, the vessel can transport liquefied gas at a low temperature of minus 162 degrees Celsius, with a maximum carrying capacity of 266,000 cubic meters.
The ship berthed with 207,000 cubic meters (about 91,000 tonnes) of liquefied natural gas after 20 days of cruising at sea.
With the start of winter heating on Sunday, the energy terminal in Tianjin is important to ensure the natural gas supply for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.
The stories were compiled by Nadeem Xu and Shan Hui and first published at ATimesCN.com.