Editing China (section)

=== Telecommunications ===
{{Main|Telecommunications in China}}
[[File:P1994-2011.gif|thumb|upright=1.35|Internet penetration rates in China in the context of [[East Asia]] and [[Southeast Asia]], 1995–2012]]
China is the largest telecom market in the world and currently has the [[List of countries by number of mobile numbers in use|largest number of active cellphones of any country]], with over 1.7 billion subscribers, {{As of|2023|February|lc=y}}. It has the largest number of [[List of countries by number of Internet users|internet]] and [[List of sovereign states by number of broadband Internet subscriptions|broadband users]], with over 1.1 billion Internet users {{As of|2024|December|df=US|lc=y}}—equivalent to around 78.6% of its population.<ref>{{Cite web |date=18 January 2025 |title=China's internet users surpass 1.1 billion, powering digital economy and innovation |url=https://english.www.gov.cn/archive/statistics/202501/18/content_WS678ae7f6c6d0868f4e8eef08.html |access-date=18 January 2025 |publisher=[[State Council of China]]}}</ref> By 2018, China had more than 1 billion 4G users, accounting for 40% of world's total.<ref>{{Cite web |date=22 January 2018 |title=China breaks 1B 4G subscriber mark |url=https://www.mobileworldlive.com/featured-content/home-banner/china-breaks-1b-4g-subscriber-mark/ |access-date=23 February 2019 |website=Mobile World Live}}</ref> China is making rapid advances in [[5G]]—by late 2018, China had started large-scale and commercial 5G trials.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Woyke |first=Elizabeth |title=China is racing ahead in 5G. Here's what that means. |url=https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612617/china-is-racing-ahead-in-5g-heres-what-it-means/ |access-date=21 February 2019 |website=MIT Technology Review}}</ref> {{As of|2023|December}}, China had over 810 million [[5G]] users and 3.38 million base stations installed.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Zuo |first=Mandy |date=29 March 2024 |title=China's 5G market set to expand, fuel economic growth as tech solidifies status as pillar industry |url=https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3257119/chinas-5g-market-set-expand-fuel-economic-growth-tech-solidifies-status-pillar-industry |access-date=21 May 2024 |work=[[South China Morning Post]]}}</ref>

[[China Mobile]], [[China Unicom]] and [[China Telecom]], are the three large providers of mobile and internet in China. China Telecom alone served more than 145 million broadband subscribers and 300 million mobile users; China Unicom had about 300 million subscribers; and China Mobile, the largest of them all, had 925 million users, {{As of|2018|lc=y}}.<ref>{{Cite web |date=21 August 2018 |title=Blog: China operator H1 2018 scorecard |url=https://www.mobileworldlive.com/blog/blog-china-operator-h1-2018-scorecard/ |access-date=23 February 2019 |website=Mobile World Live}}</ref> Combined, the three operators had over 3.4 million 4G base-stations in China.<ref name="TechNode-2018">{{Cite web |date=8 November 2018 |title=China ranked in top 5 for 4G penetration |url=https://technode.com/2018/11/08/china-ranked-in-top-5-for-4g-penetration/ |access-date=23 February 2019 |website=TechNode}}</ref> Several Chinese telecommunications companies, most notably [[Huawei]] and [[ZTE]], have been accused of spying for the Chinese military.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Engleman |first=Eric |date=8 October 2012 |title=Huawei, ZTE Provide Opening for China Spying, Report Says |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-07/huawei-zte-provide-opening-for-china-spying-report-says.html |access-date=26 October 2012 |work=[[Bloomberg News]]}}</ref>

China has developed its own [[satellite navigation]] system, dubbed [[BeiDou]], which began offering commercial navigation services across Asia in 2012<ref name="CustomersDec2012">{{Cite news |date=27 December 2012 |title=China's Beidou GPS-substitute opens to public in Asia |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20852150 |access-date=27 December 2012 |publisher=[[BBC News]]}}</ref> as well as global services by the end of 2018.<ref>{{Cite news |date=26 November 2018 |title=China Is Building a $9 Billion Rival to the American-Run GPS |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-25/china-s-big-dipper-satellites-challenge-the-dominance-of-gps |access-date=21 February 2019 |work=[[Bloomberg News]]}}</ref> Beidou followed [[Global Positioning System|GPS]] and [[GLONASS]] as the third completed global navigation satellite.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Elmer |first=Keegan |date=3 August 2020 |title=China promises state support to keep BeiDou satellite system at cutting edge |url=https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3095794/china-promises-state-support-keep-beidou-satellite-system |access-date=22 August 2020 |work=[[South China Morning Post]]}}</ref>