China launches 5G base station in Tibet-Qinghai region

China has opened its first 5G base station for the Qinghai-Tibet plateau region, a media report said on Sunday.

The service was opened last week in the city of Xining, Qinghai Province, according to the Qinghai subsidiary of the telecom firm China Mobile.

Currently, part of the city's downtown area is covered by 5G service, having the peak download speed of 1.3 Giga byte per second (Gbps), about 10 times that of 4G service, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The high-altitude province of Qinghai has lagged behind in infrastructure construction.

In April 2018, the local government vowed to develop new wireless technologies such as 5G network, the report said, adding that the province also plans to offer information services, such as virtual reality and tele-medicine, thanks to faster internet speeds.

The company officials said that the 5G service is expected to improve the communication between Qinghai's Tibetan-populated areas and the rest of the country by closing their information service gap.

On Friday, a 5G base station was launched in Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in south China's Guangdong Province, making it the first 5G-covered airport in the country.