Standard bearers

21 December 2017 By Robyn Mak Follow @mak_robyn

The People’s Republic will set many of the standards for ultra-fast mobile broadband. That will boost Huawei, ZTE, and others at the expense of foreign outfits like Nokia. This is a foretaste of the fights ahead for dominance of emerging technologies such as AI and electric cars.

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China's mobile carriers began testing next-generation 5G wireless broadband in 2017. The trials involve domestic telecoms-equipment makers such as Huawei and ZTE, and foreign companies such as Qualcomm.

A body known as the 3rd Generation Partnership Project determines wireless technical specifications and is composed of regional organisations, industry alliances and companies. The International Telecommunication Union, a United Nations agency, will base global standards on the 3GPP's final 5G specifications, which are due in 2020.

A handful of companies including Qualcomm, Nokia, Ericsson and Samsung dominated global standards in 2G, 3G and 4G. Huawei and ZTE have invested heavily in 5G, aiming to play a larger role this time.

Chinese telecoms plan to launch commercial 5G networks by 2020. A government think tank estimated total capital spending on 5G would top 1.65 trillion yuan ($250 billion) by 2025, Reuters reported in June.

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