Chinese companies gear up for 5G

Chinese telecom companies have furthered their work in the 5G market, with a number of companies recently announcing their 5G development blueprints.

Telecom assets operator China Tower has discussed with China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom the laying and repairing of the 5G network and base stations.

It is aimed for the 5G technology to be in pre-commercial use in 2019, according to Hong Kong Economic Times (HKET). A consensus however is yet to be reached.

The three telecom carriers were on Dec 6 empowered to use low-and medium-band spectrum for the construction of a nationwide 5G trial by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The telecom carriers will build 5G base stations in China's 25 major cities during the initial development period, said HKET, quoting an industry insider. Subways, entertainment spaces, sports halls and commercial buildings will be covered by the 5G network, the insider said.

CTIA, a US-based industry association of wireless carriers, said that China is best prepared for 5G technology, that major Chinese providers have committed to specific launch dates, and that government has committed to allocate a spectrum for the carriers.

Online market intelligence platform IPlytics said telecom equipment providers Huawei and ZET owned standard essential patents on 5G technology, accounting for 7.9 percent and 4.1 percent of the global market.

Although Huawei has been banned by some countries such as the US, Japan, and Australia to build the 5G network, this is not a shock to the company's business, said He Qixiang, director of marketing development at Huawei.

Huawei has secured more than 25 commercial contracts for 5G, the largest in the world, and has shipped more than 10,000 base stations for the fifth generation of mobile communications, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

The news outlet, quoting Huawei's rotating chairman Ken Hu, said Huawei expects revenue to exceed $100 billion this year, up 8.7 percent from last year.

China Mobile earlier announced its plans to roll out 30 varieties of 5G devices, including a 5G smartphone. China Unicom said its 5G commercial network will be completed in the third quarter of next year, and China Telecom has cooperated with Huawei to establish a 5G testing network, with speeds reaching 1GB per second, in Fuzhou, Fujian province.

The three telecom carriers have set pilots for 5G testing in a number of cities including Beijing, Xiongan, Tianjin, Shenyang, Qingdao, Shanghai, Nanjing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Chengdu, Chongqing, Lanzhou, Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Guiyang.