坐擁全球用戶最多、網絡規模最大的移動通信市場，中國決心要成為全球5G無線通信技術的領導者，西方電信公司因此感受到了新的競爭和挑戰，西方國家政府也對國家安全產生擔憂。上周的《南華早報》（The South China Morning Post）表達了上述觀點，近期有多篇文章詳細闡述了新一代移動網絡全球軍備競賽的不斷升級。

“如果說‘大數據’是數字時代的新動力，”《南華早報》評論稱，“5G是輸出新動力的新型管道——與以往不同的是，中國決心要在這個時代擁有更多的基礎建設，從而掌控本國產業的未來。”

賭注十分誘人。5G網絡或將達到現有無線網絡100倍之快，能在一眨眼的功夫里下載完電影，隨之還將迎來移動新業務的爆炸式發展。5G網絡的擁躉稱這種新型網絡可以支持海量設備連接，創造無法想象的突破。

有專家認為中國正在5G競賽中取得領先。北京將發展5G作為“中國制造2025戰略”技術綱領的國家重點，旨在推動建立全球技術標準。政府支持移動運營商和設備制造商發展5G技術。中國最大的電信設備制造商華為正將幾十億投入5G技術研發，該公司還持有5G通信的關鍵性專利“極化碼”，這種突破性技術由土耳其科學家埃達爾·阿勒坎發明，用于更正信號傳輸中的錯誤。德勤最近的一項研究表明，自2015年起，中國已經建立了35萬個蜂窩基站，相比之下，美國僅建了不足3萬個。預計中國將于2020年將5G用于商業用途。

美國的5G發展前景卻聽憑私營企業處置。美國電話電報公司（AT&T）和威瑞森（Verizon）迫不及待地想在今年年底在美國部分城市推出5G，但適用這種新型網絡的移動設備卻得等到2019年才能面世。

特朗普政府和中國進行的大范圍技術和貿易戰中，5G也是一個焦點。白宮禁止中國兩大電信設備制造商華為和中興在美國市場參與競爭，稱此舉是出于國家安全考慮，還力圖阻止澳大利亞、新西蘭、加拿大、英國等戰略盟友允許中國電信設備制造商提供5G服務。

總而言之，這場高速無線網絡主導權之爭不過是再次展示了全球前兩大經濟體之間的競爭如何把世界割裂成兩大（也可能是三大）對立的科技集團。（財富中文網）

譯者：Agatha

China, the world’s largest mobile market by subscriber and network size, is determined to become the world leader in 5G wireless technologies, posing a new competitive challenge to Western telecommunications firms and raising national security concerns for Western governments. So says The South China Morning Post last week in one of a flurry of recent accounts detailing the escalating global arms race in next-generation mobile networks.

“If ‘big data’ is the new oil of the digital era,” the Post observes, “then 5G is the next set of pipes that will deliver it—and unlike previous generations, China is determined to own more of this infrastructure, giving it mastery of its own industrial future.”

The stakes are high. 5G networks are expected to be about 100 times faster than current wireless networks. They promise movie downloads in the blink of an eye and an explosion of new mobile services. Champions of the new networks say they will support a riot of connected devices, and unleash unimaginable breakthroughs.

Some experts think China is winning the 5G race. Beijing identified 5G as a national priority in its “Made in China 2025” technology roadmap and worked closely to set global technical standards. The government supports efforts of its mobile carriers and equipment manufacturers to develop 5G technologies. Huawei Technologies, China’s largest telecom equipment maker, is investing billions in 5G research and owns a critical patent for “polar coding,” a breakthrough method for correcting errors in data transmission invented by Turkish scientist Erdal Arikan. A recent Deloitte study found that, since 2015, China has built 350,000 cell sites compared with fewer than 30,000 in the US. China is expected to roll out 5G for commercial use in 2020.

The U.S. has left development of 5G to the private sector. AT&T and Verizon are rushing to introduce 5G in some U.S. cities by the end of this year, but mobile devices compatible with the those new networks won’t be available until 2019.

The Trump administration has focused on 5G networks in its wider dispute with China over technology and trade. Washington has barred China’s two largest telecommunications equipment makers, Huawei and ZTE, from competing in the U.S. market, citing national security concerns, and sought to deter strategic allies including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United Kingdom from accepting 5G services from Chinese telecommunications equipment companies.

All told, the battle for dominance in high-speed wireless offers yet another example of how competition between the planet’s two largest economies is cleaving the world into two (or possibly three) rival techno-blocs.