China

Geographic Region (ITU/UN)

ISO 3166 Code

CN

M49 Code

156

MCC

460

ITU Member

Yes

ITU-R Region

Overview

China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia, exercising jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four direct-controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing) and the Special Administrative Regions Hong Kong and Macau, also claiming sovereignty over Taiwan.

Regulatory Environment

China is a member of the ITU and as such follows radio frequency harmonisation principles according to ITU-R Region-3. The regulatory body governing communications policy is the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) who is also charged with regulating the country's radio frequency spectrum activities such as planning, allocations, and licencing.

China 5G

The MIIT reserved the 3300 to 3600 MHz and 4800 to 5000 MHz bands for mid-band 5G services. China is also expected to use the 24.75 to 27.5 GHz and 37 to 43.5 GHz bands for mmWave services.

In December 2018 the MIIT approved the nations operators to conduct 5G testing on the following bands:

  • 2515 to 2675 MHz
  • 3400 to 3600 MHz
  • 4800 to 4900 MHz

All three Chinese mobile network operators commercially launched 5G services on the 1st November 2019.