Taiyuan in North China's Shanxi province was recently recognized by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology as national gigabit city. 

A national gigabit city is designated primarily based on 5G and gigabit optical network development. Since the ministry launched the national gigabit city construction campaign in 2021, 110 cities across the country have received the designation, accounting for about one-third of all prefecture-level cities.

Each gigabit cities must have at least 80 percent gigabit optical network coverage and 5G network access in key places, 25 percent of its network users must be 5G users, and at least 5G and gigabit optical networks application cases.

In recent years, Taiyuan has been focusing on gigabit city construction, promoted the construction of 5G and gigabit optical networks, and integrated innovative services.

Taiyuan currently has 20.9 5G base stations per 10,000 people. Its 5G users account for 36 percent of the total; 10G-passive optical network (PON) ports account for 39 percent of the total network ports, and 29 percent of users can enjoy 500M and above PON services.

The gigabit city designation for Taiyuan is a reflection of the information and communications infrastructure development in Shanxi province. It will play a positive role in promoting the high-quality development of Shanxi's digital economy, stimulating information consumption and aiding the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry.