LIVE FROM HUAWEI MOBILE BROADBAND FORUM 2016, TOKYO: China Mobile aims to double its mobile connections between 2015 and 2020 as part of its Big Connectivity strategy, which would take its total to 1.75 billion.

Li Yue, president and CEO, pondered why will there will be so many new connections over such a short period. “People are having interactions with many things like their cars and their refrigerators, so the number of connections per person could easily reach ten, which would mean 10 billion connections in China.”

The operator, the world’s largest with 850 million subscribers, built out 1.4 million 4G base stations in just three years, he said. It also deployed the largest VoLTE network in the world, reaching 300 cities in the country.

China Mobile now has more than 500 million 4G users and accounts for one third of global 4G base stations.

Yue noted that before 4G, mobile apps were isolated but have become integrated, with app ecosystems created all over the world.

“5G will bring about even bigger changes as everything is connected, with deep integration of vertical industries. This opens the door for collaboration across various industries, which we need to support and is part of our China 2020 or Big Connectivity strategy.”