【Text/Observer Network Zhou Yibo】
"5G networks (in the U.S.) are generally much slower than the 4G networks they replace... 5G upload speeds are slower than many developed countries such as Israel, Singapore and Canada. ”
"The average speed of 5G mobile internet in the United States is about 75Mbs, compared to 300Mbs in the heart of China's cities."
"The sad performance of the United States in the 5G race shows that the United States has failed to keep pace with China in strategically important technologies."
On February 16, local time, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt said in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal that the U.S. government's "hesitation" has made the country "far behind" in the race to build 5G technology in China.
The article pointed out that the 5G speed in the United States is not only much lower than that in China, the 5G in some cities is even slower than 4G, and more industry analysts said that the 5G networks of the two major telecom operators in the United States are only "4G networks with some embellishments."
The authors also said that 5G development is critical because the application of the technology can "benefit a country's intelligence agencies and enhance its military capabilities," while calling on the Biden administration to make 5G technology development a "national priority" or "China will have a 5G future."
Screenshot of the Wall Street Journal report
On February 16, local time, the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed titled "China's 5G Technology Surpasses the United States", written by American political scientist Graham Allison and former CEO eric Schmidt of Google.
The article begins by pointing out that although the two major U.S. telecom operators, AT&T and Verizon, claim in their ads that they have "the fastest and most reliable" 5G services in the world, people should not be "misled" by this statement.
"Unless you're traveling internationally, you won't enjoy faster speeds than 4G phones when you play streaming games with the latest 5G smartphones in U.S. cities like New York, Los Angeles, and others." The article said that AT&T and Verizon's 5G networks are generally much slower than the 4G networks they replace.
Specifically, in Boston, Chicago and New York City, AT&T's 5G speeds are at least 10 percent slower than 4G; in Washington, Los Angeles and Austin, Texas, Verizon's 5G speeds are at least 20 percent slower than the company's 4G speeds.
"As one industry analyst once rightly pointed out, their 5G network is nothing more than a 4G network with some sprinkles."
U.S. telecom operators, AT&T and Verizon
The authors also said that the United States 5G lags behind China in terms of network speed, global market, industry investment, resource allocation and so on.
In terms of network speed, the article notes that the average speed of 5G mobile Internet in the United States is about 75Mbs, compared with 300Mbs in the center of China's cities. Meanwhile, 5G uploads in the U.S. are slower than in many developed countries such as Israel, Singapore, and Canada.
This statement is also corroborated by other data. According to the U.S. Consumer News and Business Channel (CNBC), data from speedtest, an American Internet speed measurement company, shows that in the third quarter of 2021, the median download speed in China was about 299Mbs, while the median download speed in the United States was only 93.73Mbs.
In terms of global markets, the article said that strategically important countries such as Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Turkey have installed Huawei's 5G infrastructure and are already using it to provide 5G services.
"Although U.S. sanctions have hurt Huawei, China's national champion companies remain global leaders in 5G infrastructure supply with a 30 percent market share, while not a single U.S. company has sold 5G infrastructure abroad."
In terms of industry investment, the article bluntly said that China's investment in 5G has also dwarfed the United States (dwarfs America's).
For example, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has declared that the Innovation and Competition Act of 2021 is "key to maintaining America's position on the world stage as current and future technology leaders of the 21st century," but the bill only authorizes $1.5 billion (about 9.49 billion yuan) to be invested in 5G mobile networks by 2026.
China has spent $50 billion (316.34 billion yuan) to build 5G networks and will invest another $100 billion (about 949.02 billion yuan) in 5G over the next five years, the article said.
Searched, the claim stemmed from a 2019 report by Goldman Sachs. The report notes that China is expected to invest more than $150 billion in its 5G networks by 2025, with nearly three-quarters of that investment in 5G wireless systems.
On March 4, 2020, Wang Zhiqin, vice president of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, published an article saying that according to the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, the cumulative investment in 5G network construction will reach 1.2 trillion yuan by 2025. At the same time, "5G + industrial Internet" will promote industrial enterprises to carry out internal networking and information transformation, and it is estimated that the investment scale of network transformation alone in the next 5 years is expected to reach 500 billion yuan.
In addition, the construction of 5G networks will also drive investment in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain and the application of various industries, and it is expected to drive more than 3.5 trillion yuan of investment by 2025.
"Due to the short wavelength of 5G signals, reliable services need to be close to many wireless base stations. China has installed more than 1 million 5G base stations, while the United States has only built 100,000. The article said that China has been allocating the most efficient mid-range frequencies in the wireless spectrum to 5G service providers, and that china deploys at least three times as many intermediate frequencies to 5G suppliers as the United States.
The authors concluded that the U.S. government's "hesitation" has left the country "well behind" China in the race to build 5G technology.
January 3, 2022, 5G base station on the edge of National Highway 324 in Luojiang District, Quanzhou, Fujian Province Image source: Visual China
In addition to the gap with China, the authors highlight the problem of 5G development within the United States — the "dysfunctional relationship" between government agencies and the telecommunications industry, the most typical example of which is the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) opposition to airport coverage of 5G services.
According to the Observer Network, since last year, the US aviation industry and the telecommunications industry have been controversial about the security of 5G networks.
Two major U.S. telecom operators, AT&T and Verizon, had planned to officially deploy the C-band spectrum wireless service they won in the $80 billion government auction on December 5 last year, but the U.S. aviation industry and the FAA believe that the C-band used by the U.S. 5G network may endanger aviation safety because the signal may cause interference to highly sensitive aircraft electronics such as radio altimeters, which will not only affect aircraft landing, but even cause flight delays or diversions in severe cases.
A radio altimeter is an instrument that uses radio signals to measure the altitude of an aircraft from the ground and is required throughout the flight, especially when the visibility of the environment is low. However, radio altimeters use frequencies that are closer to those used in U.S. 5G networks.
On December 20 last year, Calhoun, ceo of global aircraft manufacturing giant Boeing, and Knut, ceo of Airbus, jointly sent a letter to the Biden administration, asking for the postponement of the 5G plan, also on the grounds that aviation safety is endangered.
Soon after, the two major U.S. telecom operators decided to postpone their 5G deployment plans until January 5 this year. But on December 31 last year, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation and the FAA Director sent a joint letter to AT&T and Verizon, again requesting a delay in 5G deployment.
Eventually, the two telecom operators compromised again, postponing the original plan for another two weeks until Jan. 19, and with the coordination of the White House, an agreement with the aviation industry would limit the use of 5G networks near the airport without changing the timing of 5G deployment.
However, on the 19th, Emirates, Japan Airlines and other international airlines have announced that due to the inability to determine the interference of the US 5G signal on the aircraft, some flights to the United States will be cancelled on the same day.
5G base station in California, USA Image source: Visual China
At the end of the article, the authors say 5G development is critical because the application of the technology can "benefit a country's intelligence agencies and enhance their military capabilities."
As a result, the authors call on the Biden administration to make 5G technology development a "national priority" or "China will have a 5G future."
However, the article also makes it clear that in addition to 5G technology, China is already ahead of the United States in many applications of high-tech manufacturing, green energy and artificial intelligence, "According to the current development trajectory, by 2030, the number of semiconductor chips produced in China and the application of biotechnology for treating diseases such as cancer may surpass the United States." ”
According to public information, the author of the article, Allison, is a professor at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Political Science and the author of "Doomed to War: Can the United States and China Escape the Thucydides Trap?" a book.
The well-known political concept of the Thucydides Trap, also coined by Allison, meant that a newly rising power would inevitably challenge the existing powers, and the existing powers would inevitably respond to this threat, so that war would become inevitable.
Graham Allison Source: People's Daily News
Another author, Schmidt, served as Google's CEO from 2001 to 2011, Google from 2011 to 2015, and as executive chairman of Google's parent company, Alphabet, from 2015 to 2017.
As of October 2021, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index ranks Schmidt as the 55th richest man in the world, with an estimated net worth of $26.8 billion (about 169.55 billion yuan).
Eric Schmidt Image source: Visual China
This article is an exclusive manuscript of the Observer Network and may not be reproduced without authorization.