Telecom company ramps up 5G efforts

Shortly after winning a 5G commercial license a week ago, China Mobile, the world's largest telecom carrier by mobile subscribers, has started arguably its biggest effort so far to invite bids for network construction and smartphone testing.

China Mobile, the world's largest telecom carrier by mobile subscribers, has started accepting bids for the first phase of its 5G buildout in 2019, with the project's pre-estimated price set at 19.26 billion yuan ($2.79 billion).

The forecast price exceeded the investment size of roughly 17 billion yuan China Mobile said earlier that it could pour into 5G this year, signifying that the company has ramped up the push to roll out the superfast network, analysts said.