In a kickoff ceremony on Monday, Shanghai Shentong Metro Group, the local underground operator, signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the country's major telecom carriers to ensure the full coverage of the superfast network across the 297 metro stations in the city.

Shentong's tie-up with the Shanghai branches of China Telecom, China Unicom, China Mobile and China Tower will focus on 5G system construction and integrated and innovative application of the technology, in areas like metro security management, operation and services, smart maintenance of equipment and customer services.

Shanghai has pledged to invest almost 10 billion ($1.41 billion) yuan in the construction of 5G this year and is eyeing to have an accumulated 30,000 outdoor base stations and 50,000 indoor stations.

By the end of this year, the average download speed is expected to surpass 200 megabits per second, whereas that of key areas like exhibition halls and commercial premises will top 500 Mbps.