Establishing the 5G Network has been seen by global policymakers and key industry players as the future for the telecommunication landscape which will carry huge economic and social implications. Poising to be a leader in 5G innovation, China has set 5G network implementation as one of her main national priorities. This has led China to undergo a comprehensive national strategy from national standard-setting process (with the creation of a joint governmental IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group to facilitate the formulation of 5G standard in cooperative mechanism with the EU, US, Japan and Korea). At the provincial level, the Chinese Government has drawn up supporting policies under its national targets to support industry R&D and strive for 5G commercialization in 2020. As a result of these efforts, 5G is projected to reach 170 million Chinese subscribers by 2020.
Meanwhile in Singapore, her Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) has announced several initiatives to position Singapore at the forefront of innovation in secure and resilient 5G applications. This is also a part of her key SMART Nation initiatives to build a thriving digital economy. As Singapore’s policy efforts are currently at the earlier phases, full implementation of 5G standalone capabilities would only be expected in 2022. Given the growing significance of this topic, this research seeks to provide case study in China to determine the major factors which have contributed to her success in integrating 5G with her industries and society. This will be done by exploring how China has successfully implemented the process from the formulation of 5G strategic roadmap to the implementation of its user-oriented integration of 5G technologies with the economy and society at a practical level. Thereafter, we will analyze future technical development and trends which will affect Singapore’s policy efforts in this area. Finally, we will look how the policy lessons from the Chinese experience can be applied to the Singapore context.
Keywords: Fifth Generation (5G), technology and society, Singapore 5G policy