Insiders: 5G may be rolled out in near future

China may grant official 5G licenses, instead of the interim licenses previously planned, to telecom carriers this year and is likely to start commercial use of the superfast wireless technology nationwide in the near future, possibly as soon as October, according to people familiar with the matter.

"Telecom carriers, chipmakers and smartphone vendors in China are ready to commercialize 5G. China will directly grant 5G licenses, instead of the previous plan to give several key cities interim 5G licenses, to better time the rollout," said a source closed to the telecom industry regulator who asked to remain anonymous because public statements are not authorized.

Michael Gao Wenhao, deputy general manager of the 5G industrial products line at ZTE, disclosed at a 5G conference in Hong Kong on Thursday that "China is likely to start commercial use of 5G nationwide on Oct 1".