5G: US and South Korea argue over gimmicks, China pushes forward pragmatically

The commercialization process of 5G technology has always been the focus of the industry. Compared with the United States and South Korea, what progress has China made?

After a week-long battle between the United States and South Korea over "who will be the world's first 5G network", foreign media reported that on April 8, the South Korean government announced that it would invest 30 trillion won (US$26 billion) by 2022 to build a 5G communication network covering the entire country. Compared with the United States and South Korea, what progress has China made?

The competition between the US and South Korea for the first 5G network is a marketing gimmick

On April 4 (local time at 23:00 on the 3rd), the Ministry of Science, Technology and ICT of South Korea and the three major telecom operators officially launched 5G mobile communication services, and the major operators pre-processed the network access procedures for their first batch of 5G mobile phone users. At 10:55 a.m. Eastern Time on the 3rd, the U.S. telecom operator Verizon announced that it would deploy the "5G Ultra Wideband Network" in the urban core areas of Chicago and Minneapolis a week ahead of schedule. It is the world's first commercial 5G mobile service that can be used with 5G smartphones.

South Korean officials told Reuters that South Korea was originally scheduled to release 5G on the 5th, but when they learned that Verizon would release it a week earlier than originally planned, all South Korean telecom operators took action and launched 5G nearly an hour earlier than Verizon.

According to Reuters, South Korea's claim to be the world's first country to commercially operate 5G has quickly drawn rebuttals from U.S. telecom operators. Kevin Kim, head of communications at Verizon, told the Nikkei that South Korea urgently recruited six well-known social figures to form the first batch of 5G mobile phone users, while ordinary Korean users have to wait until April 5 to register and use the 5G network. South Korea's first place is not worthy of the reality, but a public relations gimmick.

In fact, no matter who is the first to launch, the experience of the first batch of 5G users in the United States and South Korea is very "frustrating." According to the Nikkei, at an SK Telecom business hall in Seoul, South Korea, the reporter used an App to test three times and found that the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G network speed was 193 megabits per second, while the 4G network speed of the Galaxy S9 released in 2018 was 47 megabits per second. Although it is much faster, it is far from the goal of "5G is 20 times faster than 4G." And when users walk out of the store, the 5G service will frequently disconnect from the network.

Some experts pointed out that the battle for first place is meaningless to consumers. It is a marketing war rather than a real Internet revolution, and "it will take several years to have an impact on users."

South Korea releases 5G plan: 15% market share by 2026

Less than a week after the "fight for the first commercial 5G network", at an event held in Seoul Olympic Park to commemorate the commercialization of 5G, South Korean President Moon Jae-in announced the country's comprehensive development plan based on 5G. He said that the South Korean government will cooperate with private telecommunications companies and pledge to invest 30 trillion won (US$26 billion) to build a nationwide 5G network by 2022, and plans to widely promote the development of 5G-related industries.

To encourage the rapid construction of 5G networks across the country, the South Korean government has pledged to reduce taxes on 5G network construction by 3%. The government estimates that South Korean mobile operators have invested at least $2.6 billion in 5G technology this year alone. Given concerns about the lack of 5G content, Moon Jae-in emphasized five key service areas: immersive content, smart factories, autonomous driving, smart cities and digital healthcare.

Moon Jae-in described 5G technology as a new growth engine, predicting that by 2026, the global 5G industry will become a 1,161 trillion won (equivalent to $1 trillion), about twice the size of today's semiconductor market. He said 5G technology will create $73 billion in exports and 600,000 jobs by 2026. By 2026, South Korea will build the world's best 5G ecosystem and secure a 15% global market share.

China is pragmatically advancing the development of 5G mobile terminals

After the development of 3G and 4G technologies, China has made considerable progress in 5G technology patents, mobile terminal releases and commercial network construction. Compared with the US and South Korea's "first launch competition", China appears to be more pragmatic.

Xiang Ligang, chairman of the Information Consumption Alliance, recently told the media that the fundamental reason for the competition between the United States and South Korea is due to the need for market competition. When the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has not yet formally passed the global unified 5G standard, whoever is the first to commercialize 5G will have a certain influence in the market and will be able to establish considerable market appeal in attracting users.

Xiang Ligang said that the US and South Korean telecom operators have encountered many problems in the 5G trial, and it is obvious that they are "forcing it" without fully meeting the basic conditions. He believes that the mature promotion of 5G must meet several basic conditions: the network coverage of key cities must be comprehensive, there must be a variety of affordable 5G mobile phones on the market, and the 5G tariff must be lower than 4G. The US and South Korean operators are promoting without these basic conditions, which is obviously "running hard and in a hurry."

Compared with the United States and South Korea, how is the progress of China's 5G commercial network construction? Xiang Ligang said that China is promoting the commercial use of 5G at its own pace, and China's advantages in the 5G industry are also quite obvious: first, China has the world's most powerful communication equipment manufacturers; second, Chinese telecom operators are the most mature in 4G network construction, and now have more than 6 million base stations across the country, which means that once 5G is promoted on a large scale, China's efficiency will be very high; third, China has the world's largest terminal group, and their demand will give birth to a large number of 5G applications, promoting the rapid development of the entire industry; fourth, many Chinese brands have launched 5G products, while other countries currently have few brands launching 5G mobile phones.

Regarding the global promotion of 5G, Xiang Ligang said that the construction and deployment of each link in the entire industrial chain requires time and cost, and it is running smoothly at present. "There is a lot of news about the development of 5G in China and the world every day. In this process, we have not heard of any major setbacks in the entire industry. This shows that the entire industry is gradually developing from point to surface."