Why is the race to 5G such a big deal. USA, China and South Korea seems to all being doing well and are all nearing 5G. Why is it a big deal who does it “first”

Question

I see a lot of stories about “The race to 5G” but I don’t quite understand what difference does 3/6months of who finishes development on it make.

In: Technology

Answer 1

There isn’t really a race. It’s just political pandering and news sensationilization.

There are benefits to having 5G connectivity, so each country is pursuing the technology independently. But there’s no huge prize to getting it first, as the USA should have learnt with LTE.

https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/23/18637213/5g-race-us-leadership-china-fcc-lte