Everyone wants a say
There has been a lot of hype about 5G, but there is still no international standard for the emerging technology, though the big players are working on it.
Consequently, the argument has intensified of late about who will get how much of a say in the technology's formulation.
Some think that countries and companies with a bigger say in formulating the standard will become the dominant players in the 5G era.
Consider Qualcomm Inc. The telecommunications giant owns a number of core patents for 3G and 4G mobile technologies. Any company that wants to use the standard has to either buy Qualcommm's equipment or pay it licensing fees for its patents.
China Mobile experienced this first-hand.
"It is estimated that in 2014 China Mobile would pay at least 5 billion yuan in additional patent fees to Qualcomm for using Qualcomm's 3G patent technology in its TD-LTE terminal equipment," the Chinese telecom's former chairman was quoted as saying by the National Business Daily in July 2014.
Japanese companies are also in on the act. The telecom giant NTT DOCOMO Inc long ago began researching 5G and has already started testing its technology, aiming to become a leader in creating the 5G standard.
China has also taken numerous steps in advancing its own ambitions in this area. In February 2013, the Chinese government established a team to advance research into 5G.
The government has released five white papers about its vision for 5G and its framework for the technology.
Furthermore, China officially started testing its 5G technology in January.
The world's telecom heavyweights are well on their way toward creating their own 5G technology. U.S.-based AT&T Inc and Verizon Communications Inc have both begun 5G testing.
France's Alcatel-Lucent has been making large-scale investments in 5G since 2010, and its research and development (R&D) arm has participated in nearly all 5G development projects organized by the EU.
South Korea-based Samsung and Sweden-based Ericsson have also dipped their toes into 5G R&D.
China's efforts
The situation is similar in China. "All major telecom operators and telecommunications equipment manufacturers will join the competition to formulate the 5G standard," Wang said.
China Mobile announced on June 29 that it is working to realize commercial uses of 5G by the end of 2020.
China's telecommunications equipment makers ZTE Corp and Datang Telecom Technology have each issued white papers on 5G.
In the past, Western companies have controlled the formulation of the 2G, 3G and 4G technology standards, but experts said China has an opportunity to break the trend in the era of 5G.
"China is expected to have a much greater voice in formulating the international standards for 5G," Wang said.
Chen, the senior consultant, noted that because China's telecom operators, such as China Mobile, China Unicom, China Telecom, and telecommunications equipment makers including Huawei and ZTE, have greatly expanded their global market shares in recent years, China is bound to have a greater voice in the formulation of the 5G standard.
For example, if all three of China's major telecom operators boycott some of the technology in the 5G standard, it will be difficult for the technology to take off in China, Chen noted.
