CGTN Reporter Yang Chengxi takes us to the Mobile World Congress in Shanghai to show us the world's advancement towards 5G is now kicking into high gear.

5G is on! The technology is everywhere at the 2019 Mobile World Conference in Shanghai, showcasing many possible applications from remote controlled excavators to robots.

YANG CHENGXI SHANGHAI "You probably don't need a TV screen this large in your living room but thanks to 5G, the remote transmission of super high definition video for viewing on a big screen is now possible."

China Media Group is showing their 8K videos enabled by 5G's wide bandwidth, and the group believes this is what TV could be. Consumers in China could be enjoying the future soon, as the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued 5G licenses to major Chinese carriers in June. China Mobile aims to finish building 50 thousand 5G base stations this year, which will make the network available in more than 50 Chinese cities.

HUANG HONGYU, DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGER CHINA MOBILE RESEARCH INSTITUTE "For example, we've now got most of Shanghai covered. Next year, the entire city will be covered by 5G."

China Mobile announced it has signed an initial round of equipment contracts for about 2 billion US dollars. About half of this equipment will come from Huawei. Despite the recent ban from the US administration, the Shenzhen-based tech company is still confident that it will lead the industry. On Tuesday, the company said it has already signed 50 5G contracts in the global market.

PENG HONGHUA, CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER HUAWEI WIRELESS NETWORK "We have spent more than 4 billion US dollars on those kind of R&D research. Besides, we contribute more than 18 thousand contributions to 3GPP, and also we hold about 20 percent of essential patents globally."

Huawei's equipment has a significant presence in many developing countries.

HARIN FERNANDO MINISTER OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS, FOREIGN EMPLOYMENT AND SPORTS, SRI LANKA "Sri Lanka has been really helped, backed and supported by the Chinese. The entire backbone, all the networks are with the Chinese companies. So it makes sense for us to use their technology rather than having somebody that is not present in Sri Lanka."

Despite Huawei's position in the industry, it is hardly the only provider of 5G solutions for China mobile. More than 40 percent of the carrier's procurements come from Sweden's Ericsson and Finland's Nokia.

HUANG HONGYU, DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGER CHINA MOBILE RESEARCH INSTITUTE "Building 5G is a big undertaking. It can't just rely on one company, one industry or even one country. We need to work with diversified partners from around the world to make our services better."

Chinese officials say they will continue welcoming foreign companies to take part in 5G deployment nationwide and to share the dividends of 5G development. 

YCX, CGTN, SHANGHAI.