China aims to become world leader in 5G technology in 2019
April 10, 2018 Category China News Round-up, Weekly
China aims to put mobile 5G in commercial use in 2019 and become world leader in the technology, according to Qiao Yueshan, Deputy Director of the Information Technology Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). China’s telecom carriers China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom will start to install medium and low-frequency bands in 2019 and 2020, while some regions are expected to test high-frequency bands in 2022 at the earliest. Qiao said he also expects that manufacturers will launch commercialized 5G production by the end of this year, including base station equipment and terminal devices. He made the remarks at a national meeting of the electronic information industry in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, a day before the opening of the China Information Technology Expo.
Many countries are competing to use mobile 5G technology. Two major U.S. telecommunication companies – AT&T and Verizon – intend to offer limited 5G service this year, while Tokyo promises to commercialize it before the 2020 Summer Olympic Games. Luo Wen, MIIT Vice Minister, said that China has made a major breakthrough – from following others to developing side-by-side – in the era of 2G, 3G and 4G. There is a significant opportunity for China to take the lead in 5G, he added. In February, Huawei Technologies unveiled its Balong 5G01, the world’s first commercial chipset that meets 5G standards, while ZTE Group announced that it had succeeded in making the first phone call enabled by 5G technology.
However, Vice Minister Luo said that the domestic production capacity and the technology level of 5G medium- and high-frequency devices are still lagging, so the development of this technology will be one of the major tasks of the Ministry this year. Driven by the development of 5G, the global market size of medium- and high-frequency devices will exceed USD20 billion in 2020, according to an MIIT work report. China also intends to establish national 5G innovation centers, with Sichuan province, Chongqing municipality and Shenzhen all aiming to establish a center, the China Daily reports.
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