China has issued commercial 5G licenses to four different companies. The much-anticipated technology will not only greatly enhance the speed, coverage and responsiveness of wireless networks, but many other aspects. CGTN's Liu Yang reports.

The 5G era is officially upon China. On Thursday, China Telecom Group, China Mobile Communications Group, China United Network Communications Group, and China Broadcasting and Television Network were all granted 5G licenses. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology approved the four to operate the 'fifth generation digital cellular mobile communication business'.

LU CHUNCONG, DEPUTY HEAD INFORMATION & COMMUNICATIONS DEPT., MIIT "With integrated innovations such as 5G, manufacturing energy and electronic transportation, this technology will greatly enhance integrated innovation and give new space to internet network power, and strong support for the development of manufacturing."

Experts stressed that after the issuance of 5G licenses, China will always welcome foreign enterprises to actively participate in China's 5G market, make common plans for China's 5G development and share the achievements of China's 5G development.

WANG XIAOYUN, GENERAL MANAGER TECHNICAL DEPARTMENT, CHINA MOBILE "Within this year, 5G will be commercialized in 40 cities in China. Let me give you an example, a high-quality video, takes only one second to download with 5G. 5G has a lower latency, such as in car networking. By using 5G, the braking reaction distance is reduced to 3 cm from the previous 1.4 meters, enhancing the safety factor."

The ministry emphasized that China should actively promote the integrated application and innovative development of 5G, focus on the industrial Internet, the Internet of things and promote the digitization, networking and intelligent development of all industries.

LIU YANG BEIJING "Experts say issuing commercial licenses for 5G operators will trigger the expansion of a global network and speed up 5G network construction. It will also give Chinese enterprises an advantageous position in the world. But 5G network deployment is a gradual process. It's unlikely we'll see a boom of 5G users this year."