The issue is more due to the fact that the Western countries auction airwaves to bring in tens of billions in revenue. Just for US, companies spent over 80 billions to airwaves licenses or spectrum. On the other hand, China considers 5G network as a common goods for the country and people that should be affordable and widely available.
As the cost of 5G is cheap in China, the adoption of 5G is faster and less costly. Companies were able to recoup their investment quickly even though they charged much less than most other countries. Consequently, Chinese telecom companies have moved on from 5G to adopt 5.5G which is ten times faster. At the end of the day, Huawei would be benefited also as its superior technology can rollout and bring the costs down faster than its competitors. In conclusion, Chinese government is thinking for long term and most other countries just look for short term gains.
The US Federal Communications Commission on Friday (US time) announced the closing of the first phase of C-Band auction, that produced gross proceeds in excess of $80.9 billion, a record high. Bidders will also need pay $9.7 billion in incentive payments to accelerate the freeing up of spectrum in the key C-band by shifting existing satellite users. US-based Verizon and AT&T are expected to be the winners in the auction.
China has chosen to allocate spectrum according to the requirements and capabilities of telecom carriers instead of charging a great amount of spectrum occupation fee, which enables the operators to carry out large-scale network construction.
The government's requirement to accelerate network speed, lower fees and provide universal access to every village has promoted telecom operators to extend their networks to every corner of society, as consumers enjoy services at a lower cost.
