In the first four months of 2026, the telecommunications industry will operate smoothly and infrastructure construction will continue to accelerate. As of the end of April, the number of gigabit broadband users reached 253 million, with 95.5% of users having access speeds of 100 Mbps or above, achieving basic full coverage. The total number of 5G base stations is 5.009 million, accounting for 38.7% of mobile base stations; 5G users account for 68.7% of mobile phone users, nearly 70%. The mobile Internet traffic totaled 142 billion GB, up 18.5% year on year.

Cao Jiguang from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology pointed out that the continuous penetration of short videos and live streaming, as well as the accelerated landing of AI models and intelligent agents in various industries, are activating a new round of network demand. Behind the growth of traffic, AI has become a new growth engine in the communication industry.Editor/Cheng Liting