China must develop a more supportive policy environment to capitalize on the full potential of 5G, according to a new report by the GSMA and the Global TD-LTE Initiative (GTI).
The report advocates for a policy environment that empowers mobile operators to work with other sectors to innovate and launch new 5G services faster.
China is expected to become the world’s largest 5G market by 2025, accounting for around 430 million 5G connections, representing a third of the global total.
Industry verticals where 5G are expected to play a key role include automotive, drones and manufacturing. The report calls for China to promote the development of legislation for areas such as car-hacking and data privacy to support China's connected car market.
It notes that China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom are all currently trialing 5G autonomous driving and working on solutions such as cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) for remote driving and autonomous vehicles.
To accelerate the development of the drone market, the report calls for common standards for connectivity management. The drone market is expected to be worth around $13 billion by 2025.
Finally, the report calls for common standards for interconnection between Industry 4.0 platforms and devices to avoid market fragmentation, drive economies of scale and increase speed to market.
“China’s leadership in 5G is backed by a proactive government intent on delivering rapid structural change and achieving global leadership – but without industry-wide collaboration, the right incentives or appropriate policies in place, the market will not fulfill its potential,” GSMA director general Mats Granryd commented.
“Mobile operators should be encouraged to deliver what they do best in providing secure, reliable and intelligent connectivity to businesses and enterprises across the country.”