back to article Chinese carriers collectively claim to have cracked a billion 5G subs

China's big three mobile carriers have posted customer data for September 2022 that reveals they collectively operate over a billion subscriptions to 5G services. China Mobile revealed that as of September 30 it had 556,798,000 5G subs on the books – a jump of 28 million since August and an increase of 225 million over the …

  1. Geoff Campbell Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Mmmmm?

    Well, yes, I'm sure that the basic figures are right. However, there's a difference between "a billion people chose to subscribe to a 5G service" and what actually happened, which was "a billion people subscribe to a phone service that happens to be 5G capable".

    But, hey, 5G is a good thing, I'm quite happy with it. I just wonder why the figures needed to be provided with that narrative.

    GJC

    1. Roland6 Silver badge

      Re: Mmmmm?

      > "a billion people chose to subscribe to a 5G service"

      Doesn't mean a billion people actually get 5G service.

      For example, EE for some time have been offering 5G subscriptions - I have one even though my current phone is 4G and most of their network isn't 5G...

  2. Pascal Monett Silver badge

    1.4 billion people

    Of course China is going to get astounding figures, given that it is a dictatorship that pushes things and that 5G is rather handy.

    I have a Samsung S22, that is 5G-capable. When I'm in Luxembourg center, I'm also connected in 5G. There's just not a billion of us to do so.

  3. Snowy Silver badge
    Coat

    I do wonder

    How much power all this 5G to useing.

    1. teknopaul

      Re: I do wonder

      Bit of googling: perhaps more in total but 10% power per byte.

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