Exclusive | The US-China telecoms battle will hurt 5G roll-out and technological innovation, experts say
- ‘This focus on getting there first is pretty short-sighted,’ one panellist says at China Conference USA: Competition or Cooperation?
- A senior US Huawei official says any security risks that concern the US and its allies can be addressed through well-designed safeguards
The US and China’s race for primacy over fifth-generation mobile technology threatens to impede its rapid roll-out to consumers and broader society as well as inhibit innovation – but the rivalry is unlikely to end any time soon.
That was the view of technology experts addressing the future of 5G standards and the telecoms ecosystem at a conference focused on US-China issues in New York on Tuesday.
“It’s not really productive or accurate to talk about the race to 5G in a binary context or as a US-China race,” said Naomi Wilson, senior policy director with the Washington-based Asia Information Technology Industry Council, speaking at China Conference USA: Competition or Cooperation? sponsored by the South China Morning Post.
“This focus on getting there first is pretty short-sighted.”
Panellists agreed that the ultimate objective was to see 5G – an advanced wireless technology that promises to greatly expand the amount of data available for a host of applications ranging from smart homes and autonomous vehicles to health care and entertainment – spread efficiently, safely and in keeping with different countries’ data and national security requirements.