China Tower chairman Tong Jilu highlighted the impact of 5G on its top-line in H1, with the technology becoming a key growth driver for its traditional tower business as network deployments expanded rapidly across the country.

In a statement, Tong explained it completed about 256,000 5G projects in H1, with 97 per cent deployed using existing resources, which he argued highlighted the company’s ability to cost-effectively handle large-scale construction.

Net profit increased 16.1 per cent year-on-year to CNY3.5 billion ($540.1 million), with operating revenue rising 7.2 per cent to CNY42.7 billion.

Tower business revenue was up 3.7 per cent to CNY37.7 billion and indoor distributed antenna system (DAS) grew 21.3 per cent to CNY2.1 billion.

It ended June with 20,000 more towers under management, totalling 2.1 million, with tenants up 104,000 to 3.2 million. Site co-location efficiency continued to improve, with the average tenancy per tower rising from 1.64 to 1.68.

The DAS business covered buildings with a total area of 4.41 billion square metres, up 41.3 per cent, and it covered 14,431km of high-speed railway tunnels and subways, up 31.8 per cent.

Sales from its trans-sector site application and information unit rose 46.6 per cent to CNY1.8 billion, while its energy business posted 180.6 per cent growth to CNY884 million.

Tong explained the company began using more clean energy in its operations to achieve green and low-carbon development to support China’s environmental targets.