China will continue to accelerate plans to utilize 5G in the industrial, logistics and transport sectors, as well as explore its wider commercial viability despite the growing dispute with the US surrounding the Huawei, according to its Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).
Wang Xinzhe, chief economist at the MIIT, said that Beijing has set a number of priorities to speed up the commercialization of 5G when he spoke at the China Development Forum in Beijing on March 23, 2019.
“The ministry will speed up commercialization of 5G building a telecommunications infrastructure that has high speed and with full coverage, as well as growing a stronger and bigger 5G industrial chain,” Wang said.
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In order to do so, the MIIT will set up pilot projects across specific industries to lead overall development.
Areas already suggested include the industrial internet, smart transport, intelligent manufacturing and digital agriculture.
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China sees the development of 5G as its chance to lead the global race in industrial and telecoms innovation. However, it has become a particularly contentious frontier in the US-China trade war, with Washington putting pressure on its allies to ban the use of 5G technology provided by Huawei.
According to research from Forrester Research, approximately 57% of the US$256 billion China plans to spend on technology in 2019 will be allocated to 5G and other smart telecoms.
