Real, digital businesses integrate with telecom By MA SI | China Daily | Updated: 2021-05-19 09:36 Share CLOSE Visitors observe a smart robot grasping a dice during a high-tech expo in Zhengzhou, Henan province, on Monday. [Photo by Liu Xu/For China Daily] China's notable progress in telecommunications network infrastructure construction has laid down a sound foundation for the integration of digital and real economies, experts said. The comments came after the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said on Monday that China has to date built 819,000 5G base stations across the nation, accounting for about 70 percent of the world's total. Moreover, within just two years after the nation kicked off the commercialization of 5G services, China now has 280 million 5G smartphone users, accounting for more than 80 percent of global 5G mobile subscribers.