China Sets 2030 Deadline for Next-Gen Network, 6G Launch

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has issued a sweeping development plan targeting the full construction of a next-generation communications network by 2030, with 6G commercial services to be launched at an appropriate time. The five-year blueprint, published September 7, outlines 3.8 trillion yuan (approximately $566 billion) in cumulative information infrastructure investment and sets ambitious targets for 5G-Advanced deployment, intelligent computing capacity, and industry revenue.

A Strategic Infrastructure Blueprint

The Information and Communications Industry Development Plan for the 15th Five-Year Plan Period (2026-2030), formally issued as MIIT Regulation [2026] No. 188, represents one of the largest national telecommunications investment programs globally. By 2030, the plan aims to establish a network with comprehensive coverage and leading performance while accelerating the formation of a technologically advanced, secure, and controllable information and communications industrial system.

According to the MIIT official document, the plan sets 13 key indicators across five dimensions: overall industry development, innovation, green growth, infrastructure, and application adoption. It outlines 26 priority tasks spanning information infrastructure construction, industrial system development, governance, network and data security, integrated applications, and global development.

The plan targets information and communications industry revenue of 4.1 trillion yuan (approximately $604.8 billion) by 2030, with total telecommunications business volume growing at an average annual rate of 7 percent.

Ambitious Network and Computing Targets

A central feature of the blueprint is the expansion of China’s already extensive telecommunications infrastructure. By 2030, the country aims to reach 50 5G (including 5G-A) base stations per 10,000 people and achieve a 5G user penetration rate of 95 percent. The plan specifies the construction of 500,000 new 5G-A base stations and targets 320 million gigabit broadband subscribers.

Perhaps most notably, the plan calls for intelligent computing power to reach 9,800 EFLOPS by 2030 — a significant leap from the current capacity of approximately 2,185 EFLOPS. One EFLOPS represents one quintillion floating-point operations per second. As China Daily reported, this computing target signals a fundamental shift in how communications infrastructure is conceived — moving beyond traditional connectivity to encompass AI computation as a core national resource.

The plan proposes a multi-level computing architecture spanning national hubs, regional facilities, and edge infrastructure, with clusters of 10,000 and even 100,000 accelerators to support AI training workloads.

6G: A Milestone Within a Broader Vision

While the plan explicitly calls for initiating 6G commercial services at an appropriate time, it stops short of setting a specific launch date. This measured language reflects the reality that global 6G standards remain under development at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and 3GPP, with formal approval of requirements scheduled for December 2026 and candidate radio interface submissions expected between February 2027 and February 2029.

China has been positioning itself for 6G leadership. According to research compiled for this report, Chinese entities hold approximately 40.3 percent of global 6G patents — exceeding China’s 5G-era core patent share by 5 percentage points. In May 2026, MIIT issued China’s first 6G trial frequency license for the 6425-7125MHz band, and the Purple Mountain Laboratory in Nanjing has built a quasi-6G field test network covering 9,000 square kilometers.

The CGTN report notes that the plan’s 6G provisions include strengthening core technology research and development, continuing technical trials, and developing 6G base stations, core networks, and smartphones.

Beyond Connectivity: AI and Integrated Infrastructure

The plan represents a fundamental redefinition of what a communications network must deliver. MIIT spokesperson Xie Cun described the next-generation network at a July press conference as “not just an upgrade of the traditional network, but a key innovation in digital information infrastructure for the intelligent era.”

The new architecture extends beyond traditional ground-based connectivity to encompass integrated air-space-ground-sea coverage, deterministic connections for industrial applications, and deep integration of communication, sensing, computing, intelligence, and security capabilities. The plan includes provisions for satellite-terrestrial integration, mobile phone direct-to-satellite services, and exploration of space-based computing.

According to the Chinese government’s official English website, the plan supports the broader Digital China initiative, which aims to raise the added value of core digital economy industries to 12.5 percent of GDP by 2030.

Global Implications and Execution Challenges

The plan positions China in direct competition with other nations developing next-generation telecommunications technologies. As analysis from Remio.ai observes, the central tension is not China versus another country — it is the gap between a coordinated national blueprint and commercially deployable services.

China’s state-controlled carriers — China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom — will bear much of the implementation burden. They must finance, install, operate, and sell the network while managing capital intensity and demonstrating productive use of new infrastructure. Equipment suppliers such as Huawei and ZTE face the challenge of turning research into products while international standards remain under development.

Industry analysts note that 5G’s experience offers a cautionary tale: extensive coverage did not immediately produce a transformative consumer application comparable to the smartphone transition triggered by 4G. Much of 5G’s strategic value has emerged through industrial networks rather than a single mass-market service.

What to Watch

Three signals will indicate whether the 2030 deadline holds: the formal progress of IMT-2030 requirements and subsequent global standardization; how operators deploy the promised 500,000 new 5G-A base stations in terms of geographic distribution and utilization; and enterprise adoption across manufacturing, transportation, energy, and healthcare sectors.

The plan builds on China’s existing position as the world’s largest information infrastructure market — gigabit optical network access is already available in every county, and 5G networks cover all towns and more than 95 percent of administrative villages. The blueprint’s success will ultimately be measured not by construction targets alone, but by whether the components function as one coherent platform delivering services that enterprises and consumers repeatedly choose to use.

As the MIIT document states, the plan lays the foundation for “basically achieving modernization of China’s information and communications sector by 2035.” The 2030 targets represent the first major milestone on that longer journey toward a fully integrated, AI-enabled national communications infrastructure.