Op-Ed: 5G Booms In China, As Congress Charts A Future For FCC Spectrum Authority

This piece was originally published in Issues & Insights on July 6, 2023.

Recent reports indicate that China is growing its 5G wireless capacity faster than the U.S., which makes the reauthorization of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) spectrum auction authority all the more urgent.

China state news agency Xinhua reported in March that China is expected to end 2023 with 2.9 million 5G base stations, according to Minister of Industry and Information Technology Jin Zhaunglong. These base stations are critical because they are “designed to act as a central connecting point for wireless IoT devices to interact.”

Jin also said there is a big push to promote industrial applications of 5G, especially in manufacturing, with plans to build more than 10,000 5G-capable factories between 2021 and 2025, according to RCR Wireless.

Global Times reported that China already had 2.7 million 5G base stations by the end of April, with 5G now covering all prefecture-level cities in the country and county-level urban areas. Experts told Global Times that China leads the world in integrating 5G into the economy. 

The full piece can be found online here.