CHINA Mobile Ltd., the country’s largest wireless carrier by revenue, has received approval from regulators to list shares in Shanghai, months after it was removed from the New York Stock Exchange due to an investment ban ordered by former U.S. President Donald Trump.

China Mobile received the nod earlier this month from the China Securities Regulatory Commission to move ahead with the share sale, the Hong Kong-listed firm said.

It’s not clear yet how much money China Mobile will raise. It said that it needs to conduct preliminary price consultations this week.

But the total, which the company wants to use to help it ramp up its 5G capabilities, among other things, could be in the billions of dollars.

The company plans to issue about 845.7 million shares, it said in a prospectus on the Shanghai bourse’s website Tuesday. Based on the closing price of its Hong Kong-listed stock Monday, the offer would raise the equivalent of around 39.16 billion yuan (US$5 billion).

In August, China Mobile filed a preliminary prospectus outlining an intent to raise 560 billion yuan for 5G, cloud infrastructure and smart home projects.

China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom were suspended from trading on the New York Stock Exchange in January, after the Trump administration barred American investment in companies that the Trump administration deemed a threat to national security. U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order in June that expanded the ban.

China Telecom, the country’s second-largest telecom firm, also trades in Hong Kong and listed in Shanghai in August. It raised US$7.3 billion in proceeds from the Shanghai listing. Rival China Unicom already trades in Shanghai and Hong Kong.

China Mobile chairman Yang Jie said in August that a listing in Shanghai would “effectively promote the development of the company” and let its customers “share the benefits of the company’s growth and development.”

“Because our customer market is basically in China, if we come back, the capital market and the customer market will completely match,” he said.

China Mobile is crucial to China’s high-tech ambitions to win the global race in 5G. The country wants to triple the number of 5G base stations it has by 2025. (SD-Agencies)