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Huawei and Chinese state telecoms operators tout 5G’s ability to change lives at MWC Shanghai
- Industry executives say 5G has changed the lives of its users, enabling new capabilities such as live-streaming e-commerce from rural farmland
- With more than 500 million 5G users, adoption has reached a level in three years that took 4G twice as long, one Huawei executive says
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Tracy Quin Shanghai
The biggest players in China’s telecoms industry are pledging support for the country’s 5G development at this year’s MWC Shanghai, as executives touted the ability of the high-speed mobile internet standard to change lives on Tuesday.
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“Although it looks normal today … pursuing 5G [four years ago] affected many telecoms companies’ interests and brought a lot of additional work,” said Wen Ku, chairman of the China Communications Standards Association, at the local version of MWC, or Mobile World Congress.
Since widespread roll-out began in 2019, 5G has changed both daily life for users and the telecoms industry itself, according to Wen.
“When our network coverage reached farmland, farmers could [live-stream] and promote their products to the whole country just with a phone stand,” he said.
China’s state-owned telecoms operators China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom, along with equipment maker Huawei Technologies, are key participants of the conference. US semiconductor designer Qualcomm and Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) firm iFlytek were also in attendance.
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