US ‘well behind’ China in 5G race, ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt says



Eric Schmidt, former chairman and CEO of Google.

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The US government’s “reduction” has left China “behind” in the race to build 5G technology, said former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt, as he urged Washington to intensify investment in next-generation internet technology.

Writes at op-ed in the Wall Street Journal , Schmidt and Graham Allison, a professor of government at Harvard, say that America” ​​lags far behind in almost every size of the world. 5G while other nations – including China – are moving forward. ”

The authors have urged Biden ‘management to make 5G “nationally important.” If not, they said, “China will be the future owner of 5G.”

5G refers to the next generation wireless internet that promises faster download speeds. But it can also form the basis of industrial and military applications and build a way for devices to communicate. That is why it is regarded as an important technology and one of the reasons why China goes faster with its 5G release and future applications .

“The step towards real-time 5G speeds will lead to similar improvements in autonomous vehicles, real applications such as metaverse, and other unspecified areas,” wrote Schmidt and Allison. “There are many applications that can benefit the country’s intelligence agencies and improve its military capabilities.”

The two also accused the U.S. by falling behind in many areas. They said China’s 5G download speed is much faster than the U.S.

China’s average download speed was just over 299 megabits per second in the second half of 2021 compared to 93.73 megabytes per second in the U.S., according to Speedtest, a company that measures internet speed.

“The speed of mobile internet is a mid-range development of 5G, allowing a new platform for successful applications with powerful national economic and security implications,” said Allison and Schmidt.

The authors also claim that Huawei, China’s largest telecommunications manufacturer, still dominates the market “ although American sanctions hurt Huawei. ”

At the time, China was “rapidly distributing the most efficient part” of the wireless spectrum, called midband , in communications companies. Authors claim that AT&T and Verizon use the same spectrum band in both their US 4G and 5G networks

Allison and Schmidt also say China is destroying the US when it comes to 5G.

“The disappointing US performance in the 5G race is a sign of America’s great failure to keep up with China in the most important technologies. China is also ahead of the United States in producing high-tech, green energy and massive use of artificial intelligence,” they said. .

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