China Telecom and China Unicom jointly build and share 5G RAN

China Telecom and China Unicom, two of China’s three leading telecom operators, and two of its four 5G licensees, will jointly cover parts of the country with one shared 5G radio access network.

The two companies, both listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, signed the “Framework Agreement on Co-building and Co-sharing 5G Networks” on Monday. According to the Agreement, the two operators, by sharing the radio spectrums to their names, will “build together” and “share together” one 5G radio access network in 15 major cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, etc. The 5G core networks will be built separately.

The Agreement also laid out the plan on how to divide the work between the two in the cities they will share the network. Territories each will cover is divided roughly based on the number of 4G base stations. For example, in Beijing, China Telecom will build 40% of the 5G base stations, while in Shanghai it will build 60%. Each company will be responsible for investing in, maintaining, and operating the base stations it builds. The Agreement also commits “non-aggression” between the partners, for example, collaboration with third parties by one partner should not harm the interest of the other partner. Details of revenue settlement in the shared networks will be worked out later.

On top of that, the two companies will build their own separate 5G networks in other parts of the country. China Telecom’s own network will extend to 19 provinces, while China Unicom’s will cover 10.

The two operators, together with China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile operator by subscriber numbers, and China Broadcasting Network Corporation Ltd, were all awarded 5G licences in June, well ahead of what the industry had expected.