China Tower, the state-owned wireless infrastructure company based in Beijing, announced it is converting its nearly 2.1 million tower sites into intelligent digital nodes to support applications such as AI, IoT, low-altitude drone operations, edge computing, and underground connectivity.

Chairman Chi-Yong Chang said the initiative is part of a broader strategy to evolve its 5.6 million base stations into a shared, secure digital backbone for China’s next phase of digital transformation. 

The upgrades include:

Green energy systems featuring solar power, battery storage, and smart energy management to create emergency-ready, zero-carbon base stations.

Space integration, with 70 percent of BeiDou satellite stations now relying on China Tower’s network to support space-air-ground communications.

Chang noted that since 2014, China Tower has added roughly 900,000 base stations per year, enabling “one of the highest-quality mobile networks in history.” He emphasized that the company’s shared infrastructure model has cut costs while improving network resilience and nationwide coverage.