SHENZHEN, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Huawei has signed 40 contracts to build and operate the fifth-generation (5G) telecommunication infrastructure by April 15, preparing for the commercial launch of the new technology, the Chinese tech giant said on Tuesday.

Ken Hu, deputy chairman of the company, made the announcement in a keynote speech at its 2019 Global Analyst Summit at its headquarter in Shenzhen in southern China.

"5G comes to us much faster than we have expected," said Hu in the keynote speech.

Within a year after freezing standards, more than 100,000 base stations have been built, four chipsets developed and over 40 5G smartphones hit the market.

It is expected to take 5G three years (2019-2022) to hit the milestone of 500 million users in the world, said Hu.

Huawei predicts that the number of worldwide 5G users will hit 2.8 billion by 2025, he noted.

More than 700 partner representatives, analysts and reporters attended Huawei's annual analyst summit this year. The summit will wrap up on Thursday.

Headquartered in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, privately-owned Huawei is a world-leading telecommunication solution provider and also one of the world's major smartphone brands.

The company overtook Apple in the second and third quarters of 2018 to become the world's second-largest phone vendor.