China Still Leads in 5G in Face of Global Pandemic

China continues to maintain its leadership role in 5G roll-out in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is due to massive investments by network operators. As well as growing zeal amongst both retail and enterprise Chinese consumers of data and related services. As reported in an industry study published recently. 

GSMA has said it will be publishing its own reports as parts of the GSMA China Week series. Its annual list of events meant to highlight developments shaping the China mobile industry. The event will take place later in the year and explores topics such as the role that 5G played in the recovery from COVID-19. As well as other top technology trends in China.

Telcos in China rolled out commercial 5G services in 2019. They continue to lead the way in product diversification for enterprise and retail consumers. The latest GSMA mobile economy series China edition predicts that 5G will account for 50% of China’s mobile connections come the year 2025. This represents an impressive adoption rate that’s at parity with leading markets for 5G like South Korea, the US, and Japan. Chinese telcos investment is projected to be in excess of $180 billion in the next five years. That’s approximately 90% 5G in mobile CAPEX. 

Digital Economy

Sihan Bo Chen, the Head of Greater China, GSMA, opined that China is at the forefront. Aided by its early adoption of 5G and has so far constructed more than 160,000 base transceiver stations that cover 50+ Chinese cities. This is as telcos eye standalone 5G network coverage expansion and continue to ramp up capacity. He further adds that to unlock the benefits of 5G and other next-generation networks. That are key to the realization of China full transformation into a fully functional digital economy. It’s paramount that the regulator comes up with flexible policies on infrastructure and especially spectrum allocation. 

The GSMA’s Mobile Economy China 2020 report contains insights. This includes predictions of the market all the way to 2025 as well as intelligence on the state of mobile. Analysis of the sector’s socio-economic impact and surveys from enterprise and consumer market segments. Anyone interested in taking advantage of 5G trends in China must-read the report. Other important reports from the GSMA expected in the coming weeks include.

Impact of mmWave 5G in China

Allocation of 5G mmWave spectrum will be crucial in ensuring the availability of sufficient bandwidth and capacity required by data-heavy 5G applications. This report predicts that the mmWave 5G will contribute upwards of $104 billion to the Chinese economy by the year 2034.  The report calls upon the industry regulators to allocate enough contiguous mmWave spectrum blocks to network operators. This is so as to enable them to support data-heavy 5G applications and novel use cases. Given the importance of manufacturing to the Chinese economy is particularly important.

5G use cases for verticals China 2020

China Academy of Information and Communication Technology (CAICT) contributed to the GSMA report. It comprises 15 case studies that explore the verticals likely to benefit more from 5G applications. Such as healthcare, content development, manufacturing, and transportation. A number of companies also contributed to the report. Thos include Huawei, China Mobile, China Unicom, CHina Telecom, Haier, ZTE, Nokia, Ericsson and many others.