Big four focus on Yangtze 5G tech project

China's big four telecom companies will invest more than 200 billion yuan ($31 billion) in four years to build up cutting-edge information infrastructure for fifth-generation mobile communication technology in the nation's Yangtze River Delta region.

China Mobile, China Unicom, China Telecom and China Tower Corp said they would build up a globally pioneering 5G application network across the Yangtze River Delta region by 2021, as part of a deal that they have inked with authorities from Shanghai and its three neighboring provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui.

Under the partnership, the four companies plan to build the world's largest 5G field trial network in the region this year. In 2019, the Yangtze River Delta region will be among the first to access pre-commercial 5G services before telecom companies formally roll out the network in 2020, according to a statement from the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Information Technology.