NANJING — A total of 71,000 5G base stations had been built in East China's Jiangsu province by the end of 2020, data from the provincial industry and information technology department showed.

Jiangsu has been pushing forward 5G applications in the construction of the internet of things (IoT), internet of vehicles, industrial internet and smart cities. Authorities also explored 5G applications in fields including medicine, education and tourism.

The 5G service has basically reached all the cities, central towns and industrial parks in the province. Transportation hubs such as subways, expressways and airports have all attained 5G coverage.

Data also showed 5G-enabled mobile phone users have reached 17.78 million in Jiangsu.

China will build more than 600,000 5G base stations this year, according to the country's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.