Urban areas of all 117 counties in North China's Shanxi province have started constructing 5G base stations -- marking a new stage of progress in the development of its new 5G network, according to the Shanxi Communications Administration on July 14.

Since the start of the year, Shanxi has been progressively resolving issues encountered in planning, land use, power, approvals and construction encountered in the roll out and has pushed local cities to accelerate completion of the 5G network.

The Shanxi branch of China Tower Co, a local telecommunications tower infrastructure service provider, has been planning the construction of the 5G base stations.

Its subsidiaries in cities across the province have collated the requirements of local telecom operators and listed the locations of public sites that will be opened.

Municipal governments of cities have put together and announced a list of public resources and these are free for telecom operators and subsidiaries of Shanxi branch of China Tower Co to use.

In addition, the Shanxi provincial communications departments -- together with the Shanxi Provincial Department of Transportation -- have been promoting the opening of public transport resources for the construction of 5G base stations. They have communicated with the departments of railways and civil aviation, to advance construction of 5G-based new infrastructure and resource sharing.

By the end of June, 11,512 5G base stations had been built in the province. Officials said these had achieved continuous coverage of the 5G network in the central urban areas of cities and realized network coverage in important sites and high-value areas.