With the power to change the world, here’s why the US and China are fighting over our 5G future
This is the first part in a series by the SCMP analysing the likely impact of 5G wireless technology on the way we live and work.
You know it must be nothing short of transformational when Washington goes on the offensive over Beijing getting ahead in a telecommunications standard.
But what is this new 5G technology and why has it got the world’s two biggest economies at each other’s throats?
Simply put, 5G means faster internet connections with huge capacity. 5G wireless networks will provide the connectivity backbone for a host of industrial “Internet of Things” applications that work on big data, such as AI-powered manufacturing and smart city processes and even the traffic infrastructure for a world where driverless cars are the norm.
“5G is a real revolution. Connectivity will become a platform and no longer a pipeline … [making it] possible to get everything online all the time and all the applications up into the cloud,” said Ken Hu, Huawei’s rotating chairman at the company’s analyst summit this week.
“Eventually the technology will help us to create a brand-new seamless experience between [the] online and offline [worlds].”
In China, for example, improved connectivity would enable the quality health care services of urban areas to be better distributed to far-flung rural areas. Moreover, 5G networks will also be able to support a growing number of connected devices in everyday life, from fitness-tracking watches to internet-linked televisions and smart speakers at home.
“Data is king. [When companies] digitise their processes and transactions, they can then derive more value from their data,” said Wilson Chow, head of global technology, media and telecommunications at PwC. “5G will provide the backbone for the proliferation and development of these digital journeys for many corporations.”
The US, alarmed by China’s early lead in 5G technologies and standards under national champions Huawei and ZTE, has spent recent months urging allies such as the UK and Germany not to employ Chinese technologies in its 5G networks as – according to Washington – this would present a national security risk, while simultaneously fretting over its own competitiveness.
Meanwhile China, which has the world’s largest mobile market by subscriber and network size, realises that the advent of 5G is its chance to get out in front for the first time in the development of wireless communications technology, an area that has previously been dominated by the US and Europe.
5G has been identified in China’s 13th Five-Year Plan as a “new area of growth”, and Shenzhen-based Huawei is currently the front runner in the race to supply 5G gear to telecoms companies around the world.
The US knows it is lagging behind.
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