The number of 5G mobile phone users in Shenzhen has reached 2.9 million, ranking first among Chinese cities and taking up 4.3 percent of total users in China, data released by the Shenzhen Industry and Information Technology Bureau recently showed.

A report covering the mobile phone market in China released by China Academy of Information and Communications Technology showed 77.5 million 5G mobile phones were shipped domestically by the end of July, taking up 44.2 percent of total mobile phone shipments.

Compared with 4G packages which generally cost dozens of yuan, the minimum fee for a 5G package is around 90 yuan (US$13), Shenzhen Economic Daily said in a report Thursday. A survey of over 30,000 mobile phone users showed 49.2 percent think the 5G packages offered by telecommunication operators were expensive, though the operators had given some discounts in their packages to win over customers.

Some phone users recommended using 5G mobile phones only in first-tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen because such cities have a wider coverage of the 5G network. For second and third-tier cities, some users expressed second thoughts changing from 4G packages to 5G packages because of inadequate coverage of 5G network.

Shenzhen is the first city in China that has realized full coverage of the 5G independent network. By the middle of August, a total number of 46,000 5G base stations had been installed across the city.