Over a billion people in China have access to the mobile internet. And soon, their digital lives will change even more, with the advent of 5G. Major carriers are accelerating their 5G infrastructure construction in big cities, with Shanghai as a pioneer. CGTN's Yang Chengxi has more.

When the world upgraded from 3G to 4G, few predicted its transformative effects. Today many of us are accustomed to conveniences like car hailing and mobile payments, and that is why people are excited about 5G, and the endless possibilities enabled by the super network. China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued 5G licenses to major Chinese carriers in June. The city of Shanghai is now on the forefront of this massive internet upgrade.

HUANG YUHONG, DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGER 
CHINA MOBILE RESEARCH INSTITUTE
 "We have realized 5G coverage in most commercial areas of Shanghai. We plan to finish building over 5000 base stations by September, which will make our 5G coverage as wide as 4G."

Doing that across the country as big as China is a big challenge. China Mobile aims to make the network available in more than 50 cities next year. Most of the equipment they're using comes from Huawei.

PENG HONGHUA, CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER 
HUAWEI WIRELESS NETWORK 
"In some areas we are able to use some existing 4G sites. So we are able to provide 5G coverage and with some technology innovations, we are able to provide even better coverage in 5G than 4G."

YANG CHENGXI
 SHANGHAI "
And perhaps for ordinary smartphone users like us, one of the questions we care most about is that when we switch to a 5G phone, will our phone bills become more expensive as people might be using up their internet data much faster?"

WILLIAM CHOU VICE CHAIRMAN, DELOITTE
 CHINA "I think initially speaking, the 5G data will be more expensive than 4G initially. But with more application going forward, I believe in the next two or three years, the price will drop significantly."

While carriers will be spending a lot of money on building the infrastructure, experts believe the cost will even out.

WILLIAM CHOU, VICE CHAIRMAN, DELOITTE
 CHINA "The price drop basically because we take advantage of the size of the application, the subscriber particular in China."

The way 5G is being deployed in Shanghai will be replicated across major cities. A recent report suggests that by 2025, 430 million Chinese people will be covered by the new network. YCX, CGTN, SHANGHAI.