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China and the US have in recent months clashed over Huawei. Photo: Reuters

Too early to tell who will emerge as 5G winner as tech innovation still to unfold, Cisco executive says

  • “There is no one vendor, company, country or continent that is going to own and drive 5G”, says Guy Diedrich, global innovation officer at Cisco
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Emerging economies should not sit out investing in 5G just because the US and China are competing head on in the next-generation mobile network technology, as the ultrafast telecoms infrastructure will bring benefits to all, according to a Cisco executive.

“[Smaller countries] sometimes don’t feel like they can win. But emerging economies can benefit … they [should] invest and compete,” Guy Diedrich, global innovation officer at Cisco, said in an interview last week in Hong Kong. “We have to change the notion that 5G is a sprint and only one winner is going to emerge.”

China and the US have in recent months clashed over Huawei, the largest telecommunications gear supplier in the world that currently also holds the largest number of 5G essential patents, as both countries compete for 5G supremacy.

The US has said that using Huawei’s telecommunications equipment poses security risks as the equipment could be used for Chinese intelligence activities – an accusation that Huawei has vehemently denied. Huawei has since been put on a trade blacklist that prevents it from doing business with US companies as the US continues to dissuade its allies from using Huawei’s equipment.

China has also placed much focus on being the leader in 5G technologies, as it sees 5G as its opportunity to lead in the development of wireless communications technology, a sector previously dominated by the US and Europe. Having the technology and influence in helping to set 5G standards could also translate to large economic benefits for China.

China’s three telecoms operators are piloting 5G in more than a dozen cities with a total population of 167 million, according to the 2019 China Internet Report.

Diedrich, who leads Cisco’s Country Digital Accelerator strategy that aims to partner with national leadership, industry and academia in supporting countries’ digital goals, said that 5G is the “promise of inclusion” and will help to vastly increase connectivity around the world.

“One thing people struggle with sometimes is that there is no one vendor, company, country or continent that is going to own and drive 5G,” he said. “5G is not a race, it’s not whoever gets there first wins.”

Cisco, a US technology firm that provides networking products and solutions, provides services that help connect different parts of the network, with between 60 to 70 per cent of the world’s traffic passing through Cisco’s networks.

But while there are many benefits to 5G, Diedrich warned that 5G is currently still in its infancy.

“When people talk about how they’ve got the most patents, it’s meaningless at this point because it’s so early in the 5G evolution that we don’t know where the technology is going to go,” he said.

“The amount of innovation happening around 5G in the next five years is going to be unpredictable … whatever hype there is around 5G today doesn’t mean a lot.”

Check out the 2019 China Internet Report by SCMP, Abacus and Edith Yeung, available for download at https://www.scmp.com/china-internet-report

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