Shanghai upgrades public phone booths to mini 5G base stations

SHANGHAI - More than 10 public phone booths in downtown Shanghai have been repurposed for small and micro 5G base stations to support the city's 5G network.

Zhang Jun, from the Shanghai branch of China Telecom, one of the major telecommunications operators of China, said the installation of small and micro 5G base stations in the public phone booths can help cover the blind spots of outdoor 5G networks.

Although the appearance of these booths remains unchanged, the inside space at the top of the booths has been equipped with new facilities, and the cooling system of the booths has been upgraded, according to Zhang.

Shanghai now has more than 5,000 public phone booths scattered on streets and in public spaces and business areas, while China Telecom plans to upgrade over 100 of them by the end of 2020.

Shanghai is speeding up the construction of a smart city and a total of 20,000 5G base stations will be built to promote the full coverage of 5G networks in the city by 2020.