(Yicai Global) Oct. 31 -- Consumers will be able to buy China's first fifth-generation wireless network plans tomorrow at prices that beat peers in the US and South Korea.

The most affordable 5G plan comes from China Mobile as it has a price tag of CNY128 (USD18.20) per month, covering 30 gigabytes of data and 200 minutes of calls, according to today's releases from the nation's three biggest operators, including China Unicom and China Telecom. The most expensive plan costs CNY599 per month, with 300GB of data and 3,000 minutes of phone calls. 

International operators in South Korea, the US, and the UK sell their 5G plans at a minimum of CNY200 per month with the most expensive one priced at CNY750 a month, the Beijing News reported, citing Wang Zhiqin, vice president of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.

China is expected to build 130,000 5G base stations in 50 cities nationwide as the current stations are mostly limited to big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Shenzhen.

China's investment in 5G infrastructure will total CNY1.2 trillion (USD170.4 billion) by 2025, Wang estimated. This year, China Mobile's tally is expected to rise to CNY24 billion (USD3.4 billion), China Telecom's to CNY9 billion, and China Unicom's to CNY8 billion, according to earlier news reports.

China Unicom shares its 5G base stations with China Telecom and the latest performance tests show that download speeds peak at 2.5 gigabytes per second, the highest tested rate globally, Wang Xiaochu, chairman of China Unicom, told the same news source.

Editor: Emmi Laine