5G rollout should not be a zero-sum game

In a sign that China is leading the race for the next generation of wireless services, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced on Monday that it will soon grant 5G licenses for commercial use, making the country the world's first major market to launch 5G services.

This comes as no surprise, because major Chinese telecommunications operators have already been testing the technology and conducting pre-commercial deployment in pilot cities for years. Guangzhou, for example, is expected to complete building 10,000 base stations to achieve full 5G coverage by the end of this year.

5G is 100 times faster than the current 4G technology, enabling one to download a two-hour movie in just 3.6 seconds, as compared to 6 minutes on 4G.