China’s speedy 5G development incurs significant financial costs. How does the rest of the world see this? (Picture: Pixabay)

China has put its back on the expansion of its private 5G network technology. Whilst the Chinese telecommunication industry booms, the rest of the world baffles, whether to catch up with it or tighten security measures.  

With a hefty investment of over 400 billion yuan (approximately 58 billion EUR) until now, Chinese telecom operators have sped up their work in 5G networks considerably, more than any nation. According to the German.China.org.cn portal, this in turn has triggered a cumulative economic output of about 8.56 trillion yuan, or an equivalent of over one trillion euros. These investments have doubled the online traffic of mobile phones in the last three years, from 7.8 gigabytes to 14.9 gigabytes.

Telecommunication experts are convinced, that the 5G network infrastructure is the harbinger of economic growth. China’s actions to ramp up resources for accelerating 5G application will further boost information consumption and industrial upgrading, enabling the nation to even better deal with internal and external challenges, the experts argued during a recent World 5G convention, held in August 2022, in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province. However, geopolitical experts take this expansion with a pinch of salt.

China’s 5G mushrooming plans for the future

As of June, China had more than 1.85 million 5G base stations, making it the world’s largest network. Experts from the MIT Technology Review expect that number to rise to 3.64 million by the end of 2025 as China aims to offer 26 5G base stations per 10,000 people by then, according to a previously unveiled by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology five-year plan emerges.

Wang Zhiqin, deputy head of the Chinese Academy of Information and Communications Technology, said China’s investment in its 5G network is expected to reach 1.2 trillion yuan by 2025. At the same time, it will trigger more than 3.5 trillion yuan in investment in the upstream and downstream industrial chain and other related sectors.

China Mobile and China Telecom have further revealed their upscaling strategies, which see over 188,000 5G base stations in over 50 cities in China, providing commercialized 5G services. China Telecom has confirmed the co-building and sharing of its 5G radio access network with China Unicom, says it had 210,000 5G base stations up and running by the end of June.

China’s 5G trailblazing raises concerns

China has been a frontrunner when it comes to initiating and promoting the development of 5G related equipment and its companies, notably Huawei and ZTE, which became 5G ready early on – both in terms of hardware and software. The cost of their equipment is a fraction of what has been developed by Nokia or Samsung, and thus very competitive. Besides, their equipment is also compatible with 4G and, thus, is multi-functional. “Other countries, including the US, which are late starters, have not been able to match the cost of production being provided by Huawei. Besides, China was quick to apply for and take intellectual property rights (IPR) for niche technologies”, wrote defence expert Brig Akhelesh Bhargava in the Financial Express.

Seeing how 5G enables Artificial intelligence (AI), data analytics, big data mining, and machine learning immensely, China’s strong grip on 5G infrastructure, gives them an edge in data collation and intelligence gathering, over other nations, whose 5G development has faced several speed-breakers due to the pandemic.

Moreover, many leaders in Western countries are concerned, that, per rules, the Chinese companies are bound to inform their Government about, “any information that may be of use for national security or in other words carry out espionage”. Critics opine: The involvement of Chinese workers may lead to compromise on information related to the following:

  • The frequency and quantum of bandwidth allocation for various zones
  • Reservations expressed by the armed forces on certain frequencies that are being used in certain equipment, such as Surveillance and Tactical Air Defence Radars
  • Features and identification of the equipment being used by foreign companies
  • Prioritization of urban, semi-urban, rural and border areas with rolling out of the 5G network

Read our article on charges of espionage against Huawei, for their 5G expansion.