China ended 2021 with a total of 1.43 million 5G base stations across the country, Chinese press reported citing data from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). The ministry said that Chinese operators have deployed a total of 654,000 base stations nationwide during last year. The 5G network now covers all prefecture-level cities, more than 98% of county-level urban areas and 80% of township-level urban areas across the country, said Zhao Zhiguo, a spokesperson for the MIIT. Shipments of 5G smartphones last year increased by 63.5% year on year to reach 266 million units, Zhao said. China’s “5G...