BEIJING - (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said last Friday that the number of 5G phone users reached 475 million by the end of July this year.

The figure recorded an increase of 120 million people compared to the end of last year.

As of the end of July, China had established nearly 1.97 million 5G base stations, with all cities at the state level, counties and 96 percent of towns provided with 5G network coverage, according to the ministry.

The ministry added that China will continue to advance the construction of information infrastructure facilities including 5G networks and gigabit optical networks, and accelerate the deepening of the deep integration of "double gigabit" networks in various fields.

And she added that China will make efforts to gradually expand the coverage of high-quality networks to rural areas, and expand the application of new modes of work in these areas.