SHENYANG — Northeast China's Liaoning province is expected to have 140,000 5G base stations by 2025 as part of efforts to speed up the construction of new infrastructure and develop the digital economy, according to a government plan on digital development.

Liaoning built more than 23,000 5G base stations this year, bringing the total to 25,138 as of Dec 22, according to Liaoning Communications Administration.

The province currently has 8.3 million 5G subscribers. The major urban areas of the 14 prefecture-level regions across Liaoning have achieved 5G network coverage.

Liaoning has invested a total of 9.5 billion yuan (about $1.4 billion) this year in the construction of 5G network infrastructure.

China has established more than 700,000 5G base stations since the country greenlighted the commercial use of 5G in 2019, said the white paper from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.

Promising faster connection speeds, wider broadband and lower latency, the 5G network is regarded as the "infrastructure" for a variety of next-generation digital technologies, including artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality and driverless vehicles.