Page 502 - 2021 White Paper
P. 502
1 White Paper on the Business Environment in China
14.89 billion RMB (US$2.24 billion) in the three operator, described the development of China’s
months ending Sept. 30. That’s a 60% year-on- mobile communication industry from 1G to 5G
year rise and its fastest rate of growth since as “a process of from nothing to something,
the December quarter of 2019. That was faster from small to big, and from weak to strong.”
than Amazon Web Service’s 29% year-on-year The Chinese government views 5G as crucial to
revenue rise and Microsoft Azure’s 48% growth the country’s tech sector and economy. After
in the September quarter. It’s important to years of making copycat products, Chinese
note that Alibaba’s cloud computing business tech companies want to become the next Apple
is significantly smaller than these two market or Microsoft—innovative global giants worth
leaders. For comparison,Amazon Web Services nearly a trillion dollars. The China Academy of
brought in revenue of US$11.6 billion while Information and Communications Technology
Microsoft’s intelligent cloud revenue, which (CAICT), a government-run research institute,
includes other products as well as Azure, totaled estimates that 5G will create more than 8 million
US13 billion in the September 2020 quarter. jobs domestically by 2030. The agency thinks
Alibaba is the fourth largest public cloud major industries, including energy and health
computing provider globally (Kharpal, Alibaba). care, will spend billions of dollars collectively
on 5G equipment and wireless service during
5G and the Internet ofThings that period. The government controls all three
of the country’s mobile operators (China Mobile,
Unlike previous generations of mobile China Telecom, and China Unicom) and has been
technology, which tended to introduce a single “guiding” them to deploy large-scale 5G test
novel feature for users (1G let you walk and networks in dozens of cities. China Mobile claims
talk, 2G let you send texts, 3G got you onto the that its tests alone represent the world’s largest
internet, and 4G let you stream), 5G promises a 5G trial network. Under government direction,
whole suite of dramatic improvements. It uses Chinese companies began conducting research
entirely new wireless infrastructure to achieve on 5G in 2013 and holding technical trials of
speeds up to 100 times faster than 4G and related technologies in 2016. Chinese operators
promises to nearly eliminate any processing see their job as implementing government
delays. It will also kick-start the internet of policy, whereas most global telecom companies
things, since it was designed to connect billions try to balance competitive factors and will
of machines, appliances, and sensors at low naturally invest at a slower pace. Beijing has also
cost without draining their batteries. China committed to giving Chinese operators large
knows this all too well. In its 13th Five-Year Plan chunks of spectrum for 5G. That’s a far cushier
the government describes 5G as a “strategic arrangement than operators enjoy in the US and
emerging industry” and “new area of growth,” many other countries, where they pay regulators
and in its Made in China 2025 plan, which outlines billions of dollars for the right to use slivers of
its goal of becoming a global manufacturing spectrum. These radio frequencies carry wireless
leader, it vows to “make breakthroughs in fifth- signals and are critical to cellular service,
generation mobile communication.” Clearly, especially 5G, which will need wide swaths of
China is serious about making this work—and bandwidth to provide users with superfast
on an epic scale. Here’s what that means. China speeds. China wants to use 5G in smart cities and
sees 5G as its first chance to lead wireless connected cars—for starters. Local authorities
technology development on a global scale. have encouraged developers to create 5G-based
European countries adopted 2G before other applications related to telemedicine and urban
regions, in the 1990s; Japan pioneered 3G in the infrastructure, while Chinese companies want
early 2000s; and the US dominated the launch to use 5G to add connectivity and intelligence
of 4G, in 2011. But this time China is leading in to factory equipment. Early access to robust
telecommunications rather than playing catch- 5G networks could give China an edge in
up. In a TV interview, Jianzhou Wang, the former developing and monetizing services that use
chairman of China Mobile, China’s largest mobile them—just as Silicon Valley profited from apps
like Instagram, Uber, and YouTube after 4G LTE
502
14.89 billion RMB (US$2.24 billion) in the three operator, described the development of China’s
months ending Sept. 30. That’s a 60% year-on- mobile communication industry from 1G to 5G
year rise and its fastest rate of growth since as “a process of from nothing to something,
the December quarter of 2019. That was faster from small to big, and from weak to strong.”
than Amazon Web Service’s 29% year-on-year The Chinese government views 5G as crucial to
revenue rise and Microsoft Azure’s 48% growth the country’s tech sector and economy. After
in the September quarter. It’s important to years of making copycat products, Chinese
note that Alibaba’s cloud computing business tech companies want to become the next Apple
is significantly smaller than these two market or Microsoft—innovative global giants worth
leaders. For comparison,Amazon Web Services nearly a trillion dollars. The China Academy of
brought in revenue of US$11.6 billion while Information and Communications Technology
Microsoft’s intelligent cloud revenue, which (CAICT), a government-run research institute,
includes other products as well as Azure, totaled estimates that 5G will create more than 8 million
US13 billion in the September 2020 quarter. jobs domestically by 2030. The agency thinks
Alibaba is the fourth largest public cloud major industries, including energy and health
computing provider globally (Kharpal, Alibaba). care, will spend billions of dollars collectively
on 5G equipment and wireless service during
5G and the Internet ofThings that period. The government controls all three
of the country’s mobile operators (China Mobile,
Unlike previous generations of mobile China Telecom, and China Unicom) and has been
technology, which tended to introduce a single “guiding” them to deploy large-scale 5G test
novel feature for users (1G let you walk and networks in dozens of cities. China Mobile claims
talk, 2G let you send texts, 3G got you onto the that its tests alone represent the world’s largest
internet, and 4G let you stream), 5G promises a 5G trial network. Under government direction,
whole suite of dramatic improvements. It uses Chinese companies began conducting research
entirely new wireless infrastructure to achieve on 5G in 2013 and holding technical trials of
speeds up to 100 times faster than 4G and related technologies in 2016. Chinese operators
promises to nearly eliminate any processing see their job as implementing government
delays. It will also kick-start the internet of policy, whereas most global telecom companies
things, since it was designed to connect billions try to balance competitive factors and will
of machines, appliances, and sensors at low naturally invest at a slower pace. Beijing has also
cost without draining their batteries. China committed to giving Chinese operators large
knows this all too well. In its 13th Five-Year Plan chunks of spectrum for 5G. That’s a far cushier
the government describes 5G as a “strategic arrangement than operators enjoy in the US and
emerging industry” and “new area of growth,” many other countries, where they pay regulators
and in its Made in China 2025 plan, which outlines billions of dollars for the right to use slivers of
its goal of becoming a global manufacturing spectrum. These radio frequencies carry wireless
leader, it vows to “make breakthroughs in fifth- signals and are critical to cellular service,
generation mobile communication.” Clearly, especially 5G, which will need wide swaths of
China is serious about making this work—and bandwidth to provide users with superfast
on an epic scale. Here’s what that means. China speeds. China wants to use 5G in smart cities and
sees 5G as its first chance to lead wireless connected cars—for starters. Local authorities
technology development on a global scale. have encouraged developers to create 5G-based
European countries adopted 2G before other applications related to telemedicine and urban
regions, in the 1990s; Japan pioneered 3G in the infrastructure, while Chinese companies want
early 2000s; and the US dominated the launch to use 5G to add connectivity and intelligence
of 4G, in 2011. But this time China is leading in to factory equipment. Early access to robust
telecommunications rather than playing catch- 5G networks could give China an edge in
up. In a TV interview, Jianzhou Wang, the former developing and monetizing services that use
chairman of China Mobile, China’s largest mobile them—just as Silicon Valley profited from apps
like Instagram, Uber, and YouTube after 4G LTE
502
