China's communications manufacturing industry needs 5G standards

At present, various countries and companies are actively investing in the research and development of the next-generation communication technology standard 5G standard. Taking into account the benefits China has gained from participating in the formulation of 3G and 4G standards and the need for Chinese mobile phone companies to go global, China should actively participate in the formulation of 5G standards.

China successfully promotes the development of TD-SCDMA and TD-LTE industry chains

In the 3G era, Europe launched the WCDMA standard by modifying CDMA, while China took a different path and created the TD-SCDMA standard. With the help of the TD-SCDMA standard, China won the right to speak on the 3G standard, forcing Qualcomm to agree to waive TD-SCDMA patent fees for mobile phone companies, which promoted the development of China's chip industry and gave birth to several chip companies such as Unigroup and Spreadtrum.

In the 4G era, China and Europe cooperated. Relying on the patents accumulated by TD-SCDMA and the experience in formulating 3G standards, China and Europe successfully dominated the LTE standard, defeating the US 4G standards WIMAX and UMB. This is China's greatest achievement in the field of international standards. Qualcomm agreed to waive the patent fees for TD-LTE mobile phones. Due to China's success in 3G and 4G standards, when China Mobile announced the commercial use of the TD-LTE standard, Qualcomm and Apple both announced the launch of products supporting TD-LTE, changing the dilemma of lack of chips and terminals when TD-SCDMA was commercially available.

The TD-SCDMA standard industry chain led by China was not mature enough, so we could not commercialize the 3G standard until 2009. When TD-LTE was commercialized, we basically kept up with the international pace, and our ability to promote the maturity of the industry chain is being greatly improved. Currently, the price of GSM/TD-SCDMA/TD-LTE mobile phones in the Chinese market is generally cheaper than other mobile phones, saving a lot of patent licensing fees.

In February this year, GTI (Global TD-LTE Initiative) announced that 28 TD-LTE networks have been opened around the world, and more than 40 operators are building and deploying TD-LTE networks. The China-led 4G standard TD-LTE is going abroad and becoming a truly international standard.

By promoting the development of 5G, China will be able to truly break free from the control of American communications companies such as Qualcomm

The current commercial 4G standard still relies on 3G or 2G calls and cannot get rid of Qualcomm's patents. Qualcomm has agreed to waive the GSM/td-scdma/td-lte triple-mode patent fees for Chinese communications companies, but when it comes to CDMA, WCDMA and FDD-LTE standards, they still have to pay patent licensing fees to Qualcomm.

China and Europe successfully cooperated in the formulation of 4G standards, excluding American companies and defeating the 4G standards WIMAX and UMB formulated by American companies, reducing the patent share of American companies such as Qualcomm in the 4G standards. However, Qualcomm has a certain patent position in the 4G standard thanks to its pre-acquisition of Flarion, which owns OFDMA technology. OFDMA is one of the core technologies of LTE.

Currently, both China and Europe are willing to cooperate on 5G standards, promote 5G standards based on cellular technology, and suppress the 5G standards proposed by the United States with WIFI technology as the core. In this way, China and Europe will be able to break free from the control of American telecommunications companies over communication standards.

China's communications industry needs its own communications technology standards to safeguard it

In 2013, China produced more than 80% of the world's mobile phones, and half of the top ten mobile phone companies in the world were from China, but 109% of the profits were taken away by Samsung and Apple (the mobile phone businesses of other companies including BlackBerry, Nokia, Motorola, Sony, etc. were all in a loss in the second quarter, which led to this situation). Half of Qualcomm's revenue comes from China, which reflects the reality that China's manufacturing industry is at the downstream of the industrial chain.

Qualcomm uses its advantageous patent position to charge Chinese mobile phone companies patent fees, commonly known as the "Qualcomm tax", which accounts for about 5% of the unit price of mobile phones. Chinese mobile phone companies rely on Qualcomm's 4G chips. Xiaomi has been unable to launch 4G mobile phones because Qualcomm did not provide 4G chips in a timely manner.

It is estimated that by the end of this year, LTE chips from Unigroup and Spreadtrum will be commercially available, and China's TD-LTE network will use our own chips. The GSM/TD-SCDMA/TD-LTE mobile phones we produce will be able to completely break free from Qualcomm's control and become truly domestically produced mobile phones.

With the development of Chinese mobile phone enterprises this year, the market share of Chinese mobile phone brands has gradually increased. According to statistics from market research company StrategyAnalytics, Chinese manufacturers now account for 38% of the global smartphone market, exceeding the combined market share of Samsung Electronics and Apple. As Chinese mobile phone companies go global, patent litigation will be a problem that Chinese mobile phone companies have to face. However, due to Qualcomm's strong position in 3G standards and FDD-LTE, Chinese mobile phone companies can only continue to pay patent fees to Qualcomm.

In 2011, according to data from the research company Canalys, HTC had a 25% market share in the US market and became the largest smartphone company in the US market. However, due to the patent war launched by Apple against HTC, HTC gradually declined and has not been able to rise again. This shows the importance of patents for Chinese mobile phone companies to enter the international market.

Actively participating in the formulation of 5G standards and cooperating with Europe to exclude American companies will help China further enhance its patent position in international communication standards and safeguard our mobile phone manufacturing industry.

China is a major manufacturing country, and the country has proposed a strategy to shift to Created in China. The successful experience in setting 3G and 4G standards will help us win more patents when formulating 5G standards and achieve the transformation goal of Created in China.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.