GUANGZHOU -- South China's Guangdong province will build 60,000 5G base stations in 2020, with 50,000 to be completed in the first three quarters.

Villages and towns of all nine cities in the Pearl River Delta region, as well as counties in the northern, western and eastern parts of the province, will have 5G network coverage for more than 90 percent of the population by year-end, the Guangdong Communications Administration said Tuesday.

The province saw its business volume of telecommunications exceed 1.2 trillion yuan (about $172.6 billion) in 2019, up 55.7 percent year on year, accounting for about 12 percent of China's total.

Guangdong had 36,988 5G base stations in operation at the end of last year.