By Bridget O'Donnell

Forget 4G — 5G is coming!

That's right, super fast data speeds will soon be at your fingertips. China's three major telecommunications providers officially rolled out plans to test fifth generation (5G) network capabilities in some pilot cities late last month. 

Just how fast is 5G? As Sina notes, data can be carried over 5G networks up to 10 times faster than 4G networks. At those speeds, a high definition movie can be downloaded within just a second, while a 30G Blu-ray film can be transmitted in just 18.75 seconds. Addtionally, wireless data delays will drop to just one millisecond. 

The country's first commercial 5G station (operated by China Unicom) is expected to open in Shandong in the second half of this year, while all pilot work is set to be completed by 2019. Here are the cities where test operations will be carried out for each of the major providers.

China Mobile

The country's largest phone operator in terms of number of subscribers will operate more than 100 5G stations in five cities: Hangzhou, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Suzhou and Wuhan. Addtional 5G testing will be conducted in 12 cities, including Beijing, Chengdu and Shenzhen.

China Unicom

Unicom unveiled its plans to trial its 5G network in 16 cities: Beijing, Tianjin, Qingdao, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Wuhan, Guiyang, Chengdu, Shenzhen, Fuzhou, Zhengzhou and Shenyang. Unicom's Shangdong branch successfully conducted network tests at the country's first 5G station in Qingdao on April 18, with speeds reaching a rate of 1.6 Gbps.

China Telecom

Telecom announced that it would be testing 5G capabilities in six cities: Xiong'an, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Suzhou, Chengdu and Lanzhou. Following the tests, Telecom's pilot program will be expanded to six additional cities, which are yet to be revealed.

[Cover image via GizChina]

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