Japan allocates 5G spectrum with conditions that cement curbs on Chinese vendors such as Huawei
- Japan is lagging other countries such as South Korea and the US, which have already begun rolling out 5G services
Japan’s telecommunications companies were formally allocated 5G spectrum by regulators on Wednesday ahead of the launch of high-speed wireless services next spring, with conditions that effectively prevent carriers from using equipment supplied by Chinese vendors.
The three big carriers – NTT Docomo, KDDI and SoftBank Corp – along with new entrant Rakuten Inc, received spectrum from the telecoms ministry.
The technology, which can provide data speeds at least 20 times faster than 4G, is seen as essential for emerging technologies from self-driving cars and smart cities to augmented reality and artificial intelligence.
Japan is lagging other countries such as South Korea and the United States that have already begun rolling out 5G services.
One of the conditions from the telecoms ministry was to “take sufficient cybersecurity measures including responding to supply chain risk”.