China and the United States are very hot for 5G. Why is 5G so important?

China and the United States are fierce for 5G, Trump also made an exception to the "state-owned 5G" caused an uproar, foreign media technode concerned about the recent 5G news page on the US headlines, suggesting the fear of the US government. In fact, China's 5G has quietly embarked on this competitive stage in recent years. In addition to the vast momentum of China's scientific and technological strength, the fear of the United States is actually related to huge commercial interests.

5G has recently appeared in the headlines in the United States. It appeared in the outflow of the White House memo in January and revealed that the creation of a nationalized 5G network is the only way for the United States to protect itself from China's security threats. However, the legislator quickly dismissed the idea and argued that the move was a violation of the private sector. Members of the US Congress even said: "We are not Venezuela." "We don't need the government to do anything." The words that flowed out of the memo were believed to confirm the Trump administration’s fear of Chinese 5G technology.

5G also circulated in Trump's mind earlier this month when he signed an executive order to prevent Broadcom, a Singapore-based company, from acquiring Qualcomm for $117 billion. The US Foreign Investment Committee (CFIUS) warned that the deal would affect Qualcomm's ability to develop 5G and allow China to take the lead in advancing 5G technology.

So what is 5G? Why is it so important to develop it first? How close is China to the development of global standards?

5G will become the fifth generation in mobile networks. Experts expect that its high-speed download speed will be as high as 20 gigabytes per second. This means downloading full-length HD movies in seconds. It has lower latency and higher connectivity, which means lower latency for sending data and the ability to connect to more network devices at the same time. Experts believe that 5G is an essential key element for meeting the Internet of Things (IoT), driverless cars, smart cities, virtual reality, and even remote surgery.

The standard defining 5G is being prepared by two major international organizations: the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) – the UN agency responsible for information and communication technology, and the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) – consisting of seven different global telecommunication standards Organized. Together they develop a timetable set by ITU and complete the development of standards by 2020, when most mobile network providers expect 5G services to be made available to the public. 3GPP just completed a set of standards at the end of last year.

High frequency signals will definitely appear in the standard. Although mobile networks transmit information at various frequencies, in most countries, low frequency signals are mainly used for functions such as radio, television, satellite communications, and military. For the ultra-high speed data rate provided by 5G, it will need to be supported by unused broadband to protect it from signal competition. For this reason, some countries, including the United States, choose to rely more on higher frequencies.

However, high frequency signals have disadvantages. They are more susceptible to interference from rain, fog, buildings and trees. They can't go too far, so more antennas are needed to maintain the signal. Wireless carriers will install small antenna clusters on the antenna rafts and on the roof instead of installing large antennas on the towers. An increase in the number of antennas will increase the cost of switching service providers to 5G.

These higher costs may be difficult for telecommunications companies to accept, especially in the short term. "The desire to be unsatisfied with mobile connectivity has had a negative impact on telecommunications companies... because it requires a lot of capital expenditure," the Economist think tank said. “At the same time, increased competition is forcing prices to fall.” The report predicts that these pressures will result in telecom revenues in 60 of the largest markets, down 2% in 2018.

In order to avoid these problems, China chose the lower frequency of 5G. According to Jefferies' report, China has more available bandwidth than the US in terms of low frequency.

We still don't know if the promised ultra-high-speed download speed will remain the same in the real world. For most people, 4G networks are not compliant with the data rate standards that ITU and 3GPP have already announced for 4G. Based on this estimation, 5G may not meet these standards in practice.

It is very important to be the first country to develop 5G. This is because no matter who develops 5G first, or more realistically, each component of the technology may have their intellectual property (IPR) rooted in the international standards of 3GPP and ITU. Having important intellectual property as part of an international standard will give companies a huge commercial advantage, they will be able to sell products that meet the standards and allow them to charge license fees from other companies that use the technology.

Therefore, the US and Chinese governments have decided to encourage and support 5G development, at least in this way to partially protect domestic industries. According to the China Institute of Information and Communication Technology (CAICT), the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the 5G research department, may drive China's economic output by 6.3 trillion yuan and create 8 million jobs by 2030.

In addition to economic benefits, affecting international 5G standards also has a security advantage. This is because people who develop standardized technologies may have a deeper understanding of how they work, including any access points or vulnerabilities. These technical standards will affect any device connected to a 5G network, so all smart devices and the Internet of Things may have vulnerabilities.

This is why the US government is nervous about losing control of 5G development. In a letter about the Broadcom-Qualcomm agreement, CFIUS wrote: "Reducing Qualcomm's long-term technical competitiveness and influence in standards development will have a major impact on US national security. This is largely because The weakening of Qualcomm's position will open up China's influence on the 5G standard setting process.

The Chinese government has always expressed its commitment to developing 5G technology. The 5G in the 13th Five-Year Plan and the "Made in China 2025" plan are highly valued. At this year's "two sessions" legislative meeting, the government work report also emphasized 5G.

China is particularly eager to play a leading role in the development of international standards within 3GPP and ITU. In the past, in the standard-setting process of the network generation, China has largely fallen behind, and this time they hope to make up for this. In a report, Jefferies called 5G "China's 100-year opportunity" and pointed out that "in terms of 5G, China can participate in the design process from the first day, and it has already begun."

5G occupied a place during the two sessions in China. Liu Du, deputy of the National People's Congress and director of the National Institute of Information and Communication Technology, reported that China accounts for about 40% of 3GPP's 5G standardization projects. She also said that China submitted 8,700 related documents to 3GPP, accounting for 32% of the relevant documents submitted. According to the China Daily, “The country has joined the top ranks in the 5G technology field, from followers to global innovators.”

According to Jefferies' report, last year, the Chinese representative served as 10 of the 57 positions in the 3GPP group's vice chair. Legal services and technology consulting firm LexInnova estimates that by the beginning of 2017, China has about 10% of the "5G basic" intellectual property.

In particular, Huawei has been eager to invest heavily in research and development. The New York Times reported that from 2009 to 2017, Huawei has spent $600 million on 5G research, and in 2018 it will allocate $800 million.

China is also striving to develop 5G networks at home on a timetable consistent with developed countries. Chinese wireless network providers have tested 5G services in multiple cities. This includes Huairou District in Beijing, which is said to be the largest 5G field test in the world.

The 5G pilot test also includes a new development zone outside of Beijing, and some experts believe that this may be the first stop for China to provide 5G networks. Both China Telecom and China Mobile conducted pilot tests there. Just a few days ago, China Mobile completed testing of Chinese remote-controlled vehicles in areas where 5G networks were operating.

Obviously, 5G is a big problem. It is absolutely essential to introduce a whole set of future technologies and determine how machines, people and cities are connected.