China Not Phoning It In on Race to 5G

China gave the latest signals this week that it intends to be at the forefront of the next generation of mobile communications, reversing years of a previous policy that saw it typically lag behind, as it tries to wield greater influence in the development of new technologies.

One of the new signals came from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), China’s telecoms regulator, which said it has officially launched the third stage of trials for fifth-generation (5G) networks expected to replace current 4G technology in global markets starting in 2019.