In the global 5G deployment strategy, China’s influence is increasingly hard to ignore. The race for 5G patents has already begun, with Chinese companies ramping up their investments. While Qualcomm and Ericsson are vying for the top position, ZTE is closely following in their footsteps.
According to a common saying, first-tier companies set the standards, second-tier focus on services, and third-tier produce products. The 5G competition is essentially a battle among top-tier enterprises for control over industry standards. Reports indicate that the contest for patents and standard proposals to gain dominance in the 5G sector has already started, with leading firms both domestically and internationally taking proactive steps.
![Launching 5G patent competition battle: Qualcomm and Ericsson strive to be "first troops"]
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This month, Qualcomm revealed its pricing structure for 5G intellectual property to mobile phone manufacturers. The company stated that the cost for a single-mode 5G phone is 2.275%, while multi-mode devices (supporting 3G, 4G, and 5G) are charged at 3.25%. This means that if these terms are adopted, every 5G phone sold could incur an average royalty fee of about $16.25.
In November, Ericsson filed a new 5G patent application titled “end-to-end,†which integrates numerous 5G-related inventions into a comprehensive network architecture. Stefan Parkvall, a principal researcher at Ericsson, emphasized that this patent covers everything necessary to build a full 5G network, promising significant impacts on industries and society by enabling low latency and high performance for applications like the Internet of Things.
Clearly, Ericsson's patent strategy extends beyond just 5G smartphones, aiming at the massive IoT market worth trillions of dollars.
China’s growing strength in 5G development is undeniable. Unlike earlier wireless technologies such as 2G, 3G, and 4G, where China was mainly a follower, it now plays a key role in shaping 5G standards. According to Wang Lei from the State Intellectual Property Office, China’s 5G patent applications have entered a rapid growth phase. By January 2017, China had the highest number of 5G-related patent applications globally.
Huawei, a major player in communications infrastructure, submitted 4,906 patent applications in 2016, ranking first among all applicants. Huawei has heavily invested in 5G R&D since 2009, spending over $600 million, placing it at the forefront of global telecom vendors. The company has made significant progress in areas such as 5G networking architecture, spectrum usage, air interface technology, and base station implementation. In 2018, Huawei planned to invest more than 5 billion yuan in 5G productization.
Among listed companies, ZTE holds over 1,500 domestic and international patents, making it the leader in the domestic market. Datang Telecom plays a central role in China’s IMT-2020 (5G) promotion group, contributing to several technical studies.
Zhang Xinsheng, vice chairman of the China Communications Society, believes that unlike previous generations of wireless technology, 5G core technologies are largely new. Whoever holds the patents and sets the international standards will have a voice in the 5G era. He emphasizes that Chinese companies must seize this opportunity to secure their place in the future of telecommunications.
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