The advent of 5G is causing a lot of changes in the communication industry. In all honesty, 5G is a very complex topic. It even becomes more complex when you are trying to discuss the “best 5G”. This is because there are a lot of dimensions to 5G. Are we talking about 5G network speed? or the number of base stations?. Are we looking at the 5G equipment?, signed 5G contracts or 5G essential patents?. All these are different aspects of 5G for which we can have a “best”.
However, there are folks that believe that China has the best 5G network in the world. This is the case with some Huawei executives. On November 12th, at the 2020 Huawei Global Mobile Broadband Forum, Hu Houkun, Huawei’s vice chairman, delivered a speech on “Crossing the Commercial Rift and Creating New 5G Value Together”. He said that 5G network deployment has entered the fast lane. When it comes to the development of 5G, “China is the most beautiful landscape, in fact, we are the best”.
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At present, major Chinese operators have over 600,000 5G base stations in China. 5G deployments cover more than 300 cities, and China’s 5G connection is now available to over 160 million people in more than a year. Hu Houkun emphasized: “There is no doubt that China has the best 5G network in the world”…”Everyone as a consumer is getting a new experience under this network. The first experience is that it feels very fast. You can experience a downlink speed of more than 1000M on the 5G network in Shanghai”.
However, 5G brings us more than just “fast”, 5G is still changing society and the world at large. According to reports, Huawei 5G has already played a role in the transformation of gantry cranes in Ningbo Wisdom Port. Now the gantry cranes are fully operated remotely, helping its efficiency increase by 20% and labor costs by 50%.
At present, Huawei 5G has been applied to more than 5,000 innovative projects in more than 20 industries, and it has more than 1,000 commercial contracts. In addition, Hu Houkun expects that the price of 5G modules will drop to $100 by the end of this year and to $40 by 2022. Lower terminal costs in the 5G industry will benefit the popularization of 5G. Hu Houkun concluded that the next ten years will be a great era and a golden opportunity. However, the development of 5G will have great challenges and require bold thinking and active actions.
If China says China has the best 5G network, then it's obviously true. I think China also has the best Chou Tofu.
What is next to determine is "do we care?" and "Does it matter?"
I live in Beijing, I have a 5G device. Honestly, I don't see the hype over it. Yes, it's faster than 4G… but… for what? I mean, I was already streaming buttersmooth. I was already downloading APKs in seconds. Yes, 5G shaved some seconds. But… did I really care for those seconds? I'm anyway stuck on the toilets, and 5G doesn't make me "go" faster.
So a lot of hype, a lot of noise, a loooooot of marketing (obviously phone makers are running out of ideas to innovate) for not so great of a benefit.
I'd say : meh
I'd rather see them looking into green batteries, recyclable phones, new chip architecture, rather than shaving seconds on my Clash Royale toilet session loading times…
4G is good enough for streaming and besides 5G plans are still costly.