America’s 5G Era Gaining Competitive Advantages While Securing the Country and Its People. by RAND

The latest generation of wireless networks, called 5G (for “fifth generation”),
has launched with great expectations and amid significant concerns. A
theme running through discussions of the 5G era is that this is a race, that
first movers will dominate all others, and that this dominance will provide
enduring economic and technical benefits to those first movers’ home countries
and populations. Influential leaders from government and industry have argued
that leadership in wireless communication is a crucial determinant of the country’s
economic success in the mobile technology era. The Defense Innovation Board
stated,
Historical shifts between wireless generations suggest that the first-mover
country stands to gain billions in revenue accompanied by substantial job creation
and leadership in technology innovation. . . . Conversely, countries that
fell behind in previous wireless generation shifts were obligated to adopt the
standards, technologies, and architectures of the leading country and missed
out on a generation of wireless capabilities and market potential. (Medin and
Louie, 2019, p. 2)