When will 5G networks be launched? Wang Zhiqin, deputy director of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, told a reporter from Economic Reference News that many countries and regions are currently placing great emphasis on the commercial rollout of 5G. The United States, the European Union, South Korea, Japan, and China all plan to begin deploying 5G networks for commercial use in the second half of 2019, with full-scale commercial service slated for 2020. With the release of international 5G standards, competition in the global 5G industry is set to intensify. According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the three major telecom operators, China’s 5G commercialization is progressing in an orderly manner. Technical R&D trials have now officially entered their third phase, and it is expected that by the end of 2018 the key links in the 5G industrial chain will largely reach pre-commercial readiness. Plans are in place to commence 5G network construction in 2019 and launch full-scale commercial 5G services in 2020.

The future 5G market is expected to exceed USD 100 billion. Considering the technological characteristics of 5G and the resulting industry transformations, the sectors that stand to benefit most directly include base station equipment, optical modules, optical fiber and cable, antennas, and small cells. Investors can strategically allocate capital along these key areas:

1) Operator:

China Mobile, in collaboration with Qualcomm and ZTE, has launched 5G technology trials. This year, China Mobile has designated the first batch of cities for 5G trial network deployment, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Ningbo, and Suzhou. Next year, the scale of these trials will be further expanded to validate the network architecture and deployment capabilities of 5G networks. In 2019, large-scale pre-commercial trials will be conducted, with full commercial rollout expected in 2020. China’s 5G technology is internationally leading, having unveiled both the world’s first 5G prototype and the first commercially available 5G solution. Moreover, the 5G network architecture proposed under China Mobile’s leadership was incorporated into the international 5G network architecture standard this past May. It can thus be said that China is at the forefront of global 5G research and standardization.

China Unicom’s 5G field trial base is located in Shanghai. In collaboration with Huawei, China Unicom has established the country’s first 5G field trial site, where it is validating a range of technical solutions, including 5G coverage, mobility management, high–low frequency spectrum aggregation, and uplink spectrum sharing. Moving forward, the company also plans to conduct commercial trials of 5G products in Shanghai. Furthermore, China Unicom has stated that it is already partnering with numerous domestic and international companies to set up 5G laboratories and is actively advancing the commercial deployment of 5G.

China Telecom’s 5G Base Station Deployment China Telecom has already completed the construction of four 5G base stations in Nanjing and plans to add another 600 5G base stations across the city in the future. The company is conducting 5G research and trials, with its initial 5G network operating in sub-6 GHz frequency bands, and aims to promote the practical application of 5G technology by 2025. Meanwhile, in the Xiong’an New Area, China Telecom has achieved full coverage of Tianyi 4G and NB-IoT services and is proactively deploying a 5G trial network.

2) Core equipment: Wireless and network equipment vendors are the primary beneficiaries, and the increasing leadership of Chinese firms in setting industry standards will enhance the participation of the entire domestic supply chain in the global 5G ecosystem.

3) Optical modules/optical components: The increase in the number of base stations and the advancement of 5G technology will lead to a dramatic leap in both the quantity and data rate of optical modules used for inter-base-station connections. In the 4G era, 6G optical modules were widely deployed; in the 5G era, this has been fully upgraded to 25G/100G optical modules, with the number per base station reaching around 20. In addition, data centers are benefiting from 5G, driving demand for high-speed optical modules. Optical module manufacturers will therefore reap substantial benefits from 5G network deployment. Compared with 10G, 25G offers faster transmission speeds while being more cost-effective than 40G.

When will 5G networks be launched? Wang Zhiqin, deputy director of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, told a reporter from Economic Reference News that many countries and regions are currently placing great emphasis on the commercial rollout of 5G. The United States, the European Union, South Korea, Japan, and China all plan to begin deploying 5G networks for commercial use in the second half of 2019, with full-scale commercial service slated for 2020. With the release of international 5G standards, competition in the global 5G industry is set to intensify. According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the three major telecom operators, China’s 5G commercialization is progressing in an orderly manner. Technical R&D trials have now officially entered their third phase, and it is expected that by the end of 2018 the key links in the 5G industrial chain will largely reach pre-commercial readiness. Plans are in place to commence 5G network construction in 2019 and launch full-scale commercial 5G services in 2020.

The future 5G market is expected to exceed USD 100 billion. Considering the technological characteristics of 5G and the resulting industry transformations, the sectors that stand to benefit most directly include base station equipment, optical modules, optical fiber and cable, antennas, and small cells. Investors can strategically allocate capital along these key areas:

1) Operator:

China Mobile, in collaboration with Qualcomm and ZTE, has launched 5G technology trials. This year, China Mobile has designated the first batch of cities for 5G trial network deployment, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Ningbo, and Suzhou. Next year, the scale of these trials will be further expanded to validate the network architecture and deployment capabilities of 5G networks. In 2019, large-scale pre-commercial trials will be conducted, with full commercial rollout expected in 2020. China’s 5G technology is internationally leading, having unveiled both the world’s first 5G prototype and the first commercially available 5G solution. Moreover, the 5G network architecture proposed under China Mobile’s leadership was incorporated into the international 5G network architecture standard this past May. It can thus be said that China is at the forefront of global 5G research and standardization.

China Unicom’s 5G field trial base is located in Shanghai. In collaboration with Huawei, China Unicom has established the country’s first 5G field trial site, where it is validating a range of technical solutions, including 5G coverage, mobility management, high–low frequency spectrum aggregation, and uplink spectrum sharing. Moving forward, the company also plans to conduct commercial trials of 5G products in Shanghai. Furthermore, China Unicom has stated that it is already partnering with numerous domestic and international companies to set up 5G laboratories and is actively advancing the commercial deployment of 5G.

China Telecom’s 5G Base Station Deployment China Telecom has already completed the construction of four 5G base stations in Nanjing and plans to add another 600 5G base stations across the city in the future. The company is conducting 5G research and trials, with its initial 5G network operating in sub-6 GHz frequency bands, and aims to promote the practical application of 5G technology by 2025. Meanwhile, in the Xiong’an New Area, China Telecom has achieved full coverage of Tianyi 4G and NB-IoT services and is proactively deploying a 5G trial network.

2) Core equipment: Wireless and network equipment vendors are the primary beneficiaries, and the increasing leadership of Chinese firms in setting industry standards will enhance the participation of the entire domestic supply chain in the global 5G ecosystem.

3) Optical modules/optical components: The increase in the number of base stations and the advancement of 5G technology will lead to a dramatic leap in both the quantity and data rate of optical modules used for inter-base-station connections. In the 4G era, 6G optical modules were widely deployed; in the 5G era, this has been fully upgraded to 25G/100G optical modules, with the number per base station reaching around 20. In addition, data centers are benefiting from 5G, driving demand for high-speed optical modules. Optical module manufacturers will therefore reap substantial benefits from 5G network deployment. Compared with 10G, 25G offers faster transmission speeds while being more cost-effective than 40G.

4) Optical Fiber and Cable: High-frequency network deployment and the evolution of the fronthaul network under C-RAN are driving a substantial increase in fiber demand on the wireless side; meanwhile, explosive traffic growth is boosting fiber demand in transport networks and data centers. Currently, China’s backbone network operates at 400 Gbps. In the 5G era, the expansion of application scenarios and rapid traffic growth are creating both opportunities and challenges for optical networks due to the need for massive bandwidth capacity and new network architectures, with 5G serving as a key driver for backbone network capacity expansion and upgrades. As we move into the Tbit/s era beyond 400 Gbps, ultra-low-loss, large-effective-area G.654E fiber will deliver outstanding performance. Compared with conventional G.652 fiber, G.654E fiber offers a clear advantage in span length without electrical regeneration, enabling transmission distances of over 900 km, reducing the need for regenerator stations, and providing excellent micro-bend resistance. When considering total costs—including fiber and cable, transmission equipment, and data center power consumption—this translates into significant reductions in capital expenditure and resource consumption. In the data center sector, the growing adoption of cloud computing, the rise of big data, the advent of the 5G era, and the widespread application of artificial intelligence across various industries are all accelerating transformation in the data center industry. Data centers are placing ever-higher demands on bandwidth, and the construction of next-generation data centers calls for lower-cost, higher-bandwidth transmission media. Against this backdrop, OM5 fiber and few-mode fiber are poised to see new growth in demand.

5) RF antennas: The adoption of MIMO multi-antenna technology and its application in the ultra-high-frequency and even millimeter-wave bands will lead to a surge in demand for RF antennas, RF interconnect components, and cables.

6) Small Cells: Based on the deployment requirements of 5G, a “macro station + small cell” network architecture will be adopted for coverage. Moreover, in the post-4G era, small cells will become the mainstream technology for indoor coverage and network optimization.

4) Optical Fiber and Cable: High-frequency network deployment and the evolution of the fronthaul network under C-RAN are driving a substantial increase in fiber demand on the wireless side; meanwhile, explosive traffic growth is boosting fiber demand in transport networks and data centers. Currently, China’s backbone network operates at 400 Gbps. In the 5G era, the expansion of application scenarios and rapid traffic growth are creating both opportunities and challenges for optical networks due to the need for massive bandwidth capacity and new network architectures, with 5G serving as a key driver for backbone network capacity expansion and upgrades. As we move into the Tbit/s era beyond 400 Gbps, ultra-low-loss, large-effective-area G.654E fiber will deliver outstanding performance. Compared with conventional G.652 fiber, G.654E fiber offers a clear advantage in span length without electrical regeneration, enabling transmission distances of over 900 km, reducing the need for regenerator stations, and providing excellent micro-bend resistance. When considering total costs—including fiber and cable, transmission equipment, and data center power consumption—this translates into significant reductions in capital expenditure and resource consumption. In the data center sector, the growing adoption of cloud computing, the rise of big data, the advent of the 5G era, and the widespread application of artificial intelligence across various industries are all accelerating transformation in the data center industry. Data centers are placing ever-higher demands on bandwidth, and the construction of next-generation data centers calls for lower-cost, higher-bandwidth transmission media. Against this backdrop, OM5 fiber and few-mode fiber are poised to see new growth in demand.

5) RF antennas: The adoption of MIMO multi-antenna technology and its application in the ultra-high-frequency and even millimeter-wave bands will lead to a surge in demand for RF antennas, RF interconnect components, and cables.

6) Small Cells: Based on the deployment requirements of 5G, a “macro station + small cell” network architecture will be adopted for coverage. Moreover, in the post-4G era, small cells will become the mainstream technology for indoor coverage and network optimization.