The battle for 5G dominance between China and the United States: No one can retreat!

According to US media, the early wave of mobile communications was largely driven by US and European companies. With the advent of the next era - the 5G era, the way people use the Internet is bound to change again, and a competition to determine whether the United States or China will dominate is unfolding.

According to a report on the Wall Street Journal website on September 9, equipment manufacturers and telecommunications service providers in China and the United States are racing to test and begin promoting the next generation of wireless networks, which will be 100 times faster than the existing 4G standard. The government is also involved - and China is pushing it even harder.

The report said that while the economics of 5G are still being worked out, promoters say the potential rewards are huge. Countries with the largest and most reliable networks can get a head start in developing the technology faster. Equipment suppliers that dominate the market can give national intelligence agencies and militaries an advantage in monitoring and disrupting the networks of rival countries.

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By some measures, China is leading the way. Since 2013, a government-led committee has collaborated with Chinese mobile operators and equipment makers on testing and development. This state-led approach and a huge domestic market ensure that Chinese companies like Huawei can sell large quantities of 5G equipment and gain valuable experience in the process.

In the United States, most of the trials are led by companies such as AT&T, Verizon Communications Inc, Samsung Electronics Co and Nokia Corp.

The 5G race has been accompanied by tit-for-tat regulatory moves aimed at ensuring each country’s advantage. In March, the Trump administration blocked Singapore-based Broadcom’s bid to acquire U.S. chip giant and 5G industry leader Qualcomm, citing concerns that Broadcom could cut the company’s research and development spending and allow Chinese companies to take the lead in the 5G industry.

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China has made 5G a priority, the report said, while the United States led the construction of 4G networks in the late 2000s, similar to the standards that Europe controls for 3G.

According to an August study by Deloitte, China has built about 350,000 cellular base stations since 2015, while the United States has less than 30,000. The report also pointed out that there are 14.1 base stations per 10,000 people in China, while there are only 4.7 base stations per 10,000 people in the United States. This is crucial for 5G construction because the new network requires more base stations than 4G.

The report said that the physical manifestation of China's 5G industry promotion is a government-operated 5G laboratory near the Great Wall north of Beijing.

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Engineers and managers who have toured the sprawling facility say it contains prototypes of base stations and mobile devices, with each of China's major mobile operators and equipment makers having indoor and outdoor facilities.

The trials are being jointly conducted by technology companies, universities and research institutes under China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. They aim to complete the tests by the end of the year.

Yi Zhiling, chief scientist at China Mobile, said that after these trials are completed, China Mobile will conduct its own trials in 17 cities. China's 5G services are expected to be ready for commercial use by 2020.

In January, a senior official on the U.S. National Security Council raised the idea of ​​a government-led effort to build a national wireless network to counter Beijing, but regulators and officials said it would be too costly and impractical.

“5G is an extremely important strategic project for China,” said Edison Lee, a telecom analyst at Jefferies in Hong Kong. “Because if they get their foot in the door of 5G, they can get involved in 6G, 7G and 8G.”