Written by Jon Arnold, Principal, J Arnold & Associates
As a long-time independent technology analyst, I cover a lot ground and follow a lot of companies. Communications technology is my main focus, and the wireless world has increasingly become part of that, especially 5G. Along those lines, my travels recently took me to MWC Shanghai, and it provided a first-hand perspective on just how dynamic the 5G market is in this part of the world. News from the event has been extensively reported by RCR Wireless and other publishers, but there were not many analysts from the West, so I’m going to share my perspective here.
There was a lot to see and do, and as with all major events, there was a firehose of news releases and announcements. As an analyst, however, I’m more interested in the bigger picture, and on that basis, three themes resonated for me. Before getting to those, it’s worth noting this was 10th anniversary of MWC Shanghai, and the first in-person edition since 2019, and based on the size of the crowds, there was a lot of pent-up demand. I plan to attend MWC Barcelona this February, and given how fast this market is moving, I’ll be keen to compare notes between my East and West experiences.
Theme 1 – 5G is about connectivity
There’s Western scale, and then what I call China scale. GSMA CTO Alex Sinclair noted there are now over 660 million 5G connections in China, accounting for almost 60% of the global total. In comparison, 5G Americas cites that North America is on track for 215 million 5G connections by the end of this year. China is setting the pace for 5G, and looks to be on track for having 1 billion 5G connections by 2025.
