China, US Urged to Work Together on 5G Network

The Vice President of ZTE, Sean Cai, has called on China and the US to drive innovation in the market together, particularly around 5G, in a move that would see the two countries put network security concerns behind them.

Both ZTE and rival Huawei have been banned in the past from bidding on US government contracts and tier one operator deals amid network security concerns, leading to slow growth for Chinese infrastructure vendors in the market.

Speaking to Mobile World Live, Cai, a VP in the vendor’s CTO team, maintains that the US market remains a major priority for ZTE, and said it is working with all four leading operators in the area of handsets, giving it the number four spot in terms of device market share.

In terms of infrastructure, Cai said ZTE has some businesses in the country, as he heralded the US as a ‘great place for driving innovation’.

Cai said the company is optimistic that future bigname operator wins remain a possibility. “We would love to have some opportunities to showcase what we can do in the US and we believe it will come.”

With that in mind, Cai said “China and the US should work together in terms of innovation, especially for 5G, since there is a huge challenge ahead.

While urging home market China and the US to develop ties around innovation, Cai also talked up ZTE’s ability to lead the evolution towards 5G.

“We have developed ultra broadband radio, indoor coverage solutions, massive technology solutions and we have pre-5G base stations that can also be used for 4G today,” he said. “We believe most of these innovations will be needed in the US and other countries to develop the evolution from 4G to 5G.”

Cai, however, gave his take on the apparent slow commitment the US has shown to develop the 5G technology, which is the next-generation technology so far.