INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
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Entrepreneur Jun Yu takes three smarthphones out with him everyday
Jun Yu can't resist
gadgets.More than 20 smartphones, old tablets and other devices lurk in a corner of his Beijing home - an ever-growing tech junkyard.His
apartment also boasts a Google Home smart assistant and an Amazon Echo."I take three phones out with me every day
I use a phone for Chinese apps, I use my iPhone for Gmail and western apps, and I use my Google Pixel phone for work," says the 34-year-old
His obsession has paid off though
In 2009, he bought the first phone to use Android, the software that now runs more than 80% of smartphones.A year later, the physics
graduate, founded his own company creating content for Chinese Android users
By 2016 he had sold the company for an undisclosed amount to Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant.Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption
Chinese technology firms see 5G as an opportunity to overtake rivals
Now he is excited about the next
generation of technology, known as 5G
It promises lightning fast internet connections for your mobile phone - fast enough to download movies in a matter of seconds, or to stream
high definition TV.In October, Jun Yu pre-ordered a 5G-ready smartphone, made by China's Xiaomi."4G has enabled many things like mobile
video, more immersive gaming
But I don't exactly know how yet," he says.But in the US and UK the rollout of 5G networks has been hampered by an international row over
one of the most important suppliers of 5G equipment, China's Huawei.Rivals is a season of in-depth coverage on TheIndianSubcontinent News
about the contest for supremacy between the US and China across trade, tech, defence and soft power.Read more here.The US has banned the use
of Huawei equipment in 5G networks over security fears, and has encouraged its allies to do the same
It also maintains a tight control over what US companies can sell to Huawei, which has disrupted sales of Huawei phones overseas.Industry
analysts like Edison Lee, an analyst from financial services group Jefferies, see the US pressure on Huawei as an attempt to break China's
potential dominance of the global 5G market
"The tech war is based on America's argument that China's technological advances have been built upon stolen intellectual property rights,
and heavy government subsidies, and their belief that Chinese telecom equipment is not safe, and is a national security threat to the US and
Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption
Huawei has built around half of China's 5G network
"As Huawei
and [fellow Chinese firm] ZTE increasingly dominate the global telecom equipment market, the western world will be more vulnerable to
Chinese spying," Lee adds.Huawei has always strongly denied that its technology can be used for spying.While western nations worry about one
of the key suppliers of 5G technology, China is racing ahead with its 5G rollout.On 31 October Chinese telecom companies launched 5G
services in more than 50 Chinese cities, creating one of the world's largest 5G networks.Huawei has built an estimated 50% of the
network.The Chinese Ministry of Information claims that in just 20 days the country registered more than 800,000 subscribers
Analysts predict China will have as many as 110 million 5G users by 2020.And China's tech sector is busy coming up with uses for the new
tech.Image copyrightHK Applied Science InstituteImage caption
5G could be a key piece of technology for autonomous cars
On a large plot of land in northern Hong Kong, researchers are developing 5G powered autonomous vehicles.Researchers at Hong
Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institution are working in partnership with China Mobile, the largest telecom company in China
They see 5G as being particularly useful for self-driving cars, allowing the cars to build an accurate picture of what's going on around
them, by communicating with other vehicles, traffic signals and sensors in the road."For consumers, 5G will possibly transform how we
For the government, 5G will transform roads and road infrastructure to enable new applications like enhanced assisted-driving and eventually
autonomous driving," says Alex Mui, a researcher on the project
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China's minister for IT says the accusations against Huawei are 'unproven
allegations'
China is not the first country to roll out 5G
But it is building one of the world's biggest 5G markets very quickly.While Huawei and ZTE are doing well from that expansion, they would
still like to break into lucrative overseas markets like the US
Speaking at a 5G convention in Beijing in November, China's minister for industry and information accused America of using cybersecurity as
an excuse for protectionism
"No country should ban a company in its 5G network rollout by using the unproved allegations of cybersecurity risks," said Miao Wei.More
Technology of BusinessIndustry analysts are not confident that the row between China and the US will be sorted out anytime soon."We see the
current tensions as a technological Cold War, as tech nationalism intensifies," says Ben Wood, chief of research, at CCS Insight."With the
Chinese government firmly committed to establishing China as a world-leading 5G nation, the opportunity for Huawei in its home market is
immense."However, the rest of the world can't afford to get left behind, and without access to Huawei infrastructure US mobile network
operators in particular will need to rely on alternative suppliers who may be more expensive and less advanced with 5G."
