America and China, two of the world’s supernations are at each other’s throats in another race for supremacy. This time it’s no longer about sending people to space. Nope. It’s all about connectivity now, baby.
As technology keeps advancing, both countries want to prove their superiority over the other in providing the latest and fastest mobile network capability that can virtually connect everyone and everything at any time.
The race to 5G is on.
What is 5G?
Perhaps you’re really not concerned with things like this or you’ve been living under a rock for the past decade or so. 5G technology is very crucial at this time.
To put it simply, 5G is the fifth generation technology, hence 5G, for mobile networks that is the successor to the 4G technology that most of us have access to today. Think of it this way: 4G allows us to connect with anyone on almost every mobile device.
5G technology is taking that connectivity to a whole new level. Remember when we used to have the much slower 2G and 3G and how our 4G now is worlds better than those two? Well, 5G is another step forward in the mobile network evolution, giving us speeds of up to a whopping 100 times faster than 4G.
It can make connecting with people all over the world a lot easier and faster. You will no longer get any bad connections. No more dropped calls because of poor signal. No more buffering. It makes productivity software and apps, such as recruitment analytics software or online collaboration apps that are dependent on stable internet connections work more seamlessly and efficiently.
One thing about it, though, is you will need a 5G device and a 5G network. You can’t just update your plan to a 5G plan using a 4G phone. That would be like placing Doc Emmet Brown’s Delorean’s influx capacitor into Fred Flinstone’s car. It just won’t work.
But if you have a 5G-compatible device and have regular access to a 5G network, then you’re good to go.
Why Are America and China Pulling Out All Stops to Win the 5G Race?
Now you may be wondering, “So what’s the big deal about mobile network speed? Why are the U.S. and China pulling out all stops to get ahead of each other in 5G development?”
There are three primary reasons why these two nations are going hard at their 5G game.
Speed
With speeds of up to 20 Gbps, 5G promises to be much faster and a lot more responsive with greater capacity compared to 4G. The technology is revolutionary for the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence, and network management and security automation among other things. Its lightning-fast technology will connect and accelerate everything.
To give you a better understanding of how fast 5G, let’s talk about how long it takes to download a movie. It takes 26 hours for a typical 2-hour film on 3G. 4G clearly leaves 3G in its dust as it only takes 6 minutes to download the same movie. However, when we talk about 5G, we’re talking about exponential growth as it only takes 3.6 seconds to download that video.
Imagine how this type of speed translates into workplace productivity.
Money
Now another reason for the two countries’ mad rush to get to the top of the 5G hill is money. When the U.S. won the 4G race a few years ago, it generated a $100 billion boost to its gross domestic product.
Now the stakes are a lot higher with 5G. We’re not only talking about revenues but we’re also talking about jobs and livelihoods. If the U.S., for some stroke of luck, wins the race again, it will not only make their GDP blow up to $500 billion but create around 3 million jobs.
Power
Lastly, the race for 5G supremacy is also about power. Given the technology’s capabilities, whichever country gets to the finish line first gets to have access to everything that people do online, which is almost everything. Keep in mind that when the pandemic swept across the globe, almost everyone built their own online worlds doing business, work, transactions, and leisure time.
While at this time, the Chinese are leading the race by a very large margin, it’s still not over until the fat lady sings. If there’s one thing history has taught us, it’s to never count the Americans out until the game is over. So, who will win in the 5G race between the Americans and the Chinese? Only time will tell.
