BEIJING — China's three major telecom operators built more than 80,000 5G base stations in the first three quarters of this year, as the country steps up infrastructure development of the superfast wireless technology.

The telecom sector's business volume expanded 23.9 percent year-on-year during the January-September period, data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) showed on Oct 22.

Chinese smartphone makers are also accelerating the development of 5G handsets after the government greenlighted 5G commercial use in June.

Eighteen 5G smartphone varieties were rolled out during the period, and some 787,000 5G handsets were shipped, according to an MIIT research institute.