With 5G, China has been eyeing the opportunity to be a leading technology innovator, after its diversion from the global network norms in the 3G and 4G mobile technologies. China’s active role in the 5G development in recent years has demonstrated the country’s determination to gain technical leadership in the international 5G stage.
Rising influence in the global 5G technology landscape
China has been expanding its influence on the 5G standard setting process.
Its ambition was revealed back in 2013 when the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), jointly founded the IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group to push forward the formulation of 5G standard in cooperative mechanism with the EU, US, Japan and Korea.
Operators and technology vendors, both domestic and international, participate in this group, providing important inputs to 3GPP to support the development of a global unified 5G standard.
In the state level, the Government has drawn up supporting policies under its national strategy including the 13th Five-Year Plan and Made in China 2025 to support industry R&D and strive for 5G commercialization in 2020.
It also pressed for the need to engage in the formulation of international 5G standard and make China become one of the main players. The Premier of China’s State Council has highlighted 5G as one of the emerging industries to be accelerated in the latest Government Work Report in March 2017.
The MIIT has constructed the 5G Development Guidance document aiming to make 5G an important infrastructure for China’s economic and social development. The NDRC also released a guidance document on information infrastructure construction projects for 2018 that directs 5G networks to be built in at least five cities to form a continuous coverage.
China leading the 5G charge
Taking a leading role in developing 5G technologies will enable China to gain a greater share of the intellectual property behind the universal 5G standard, thereby increasing its global influence.
Eventually, it will enhance China’s bargaining power with foreign patent holders and help lower costs for mainland telecoms equipment makers, chip companies and other enterprises in the supply chain. It will also give Chinese companies an edge internationally in new frontiers such as autonomous driving and the IoT.
On the domestic front, the economic stakes for 5G is attractive, led by large-scale job creations and incubation of new devices, applications, and business models that could significantly stimulate the Chinese economy.
According to a study from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, the 5G market could account for RMB 1.1 trillion (US$166 billion) or 3.2% of mainland China’s entire GDP in 2025, generating 8 million jobs and adding RMB2.9 trillion in economic value by 2030.
