Speaking at MWC Shanghai 2019, Huawei Deputy Chairman Ken Hu said the company has now signed 50 commercial contracts for 5G around the world and shipped 150,000 5G base stations.
Hu said Huawei's lead in 5G is due to the following:
- Early development of 5G beginning in 2009.
- Heavy investment in 5G with over US$4 billion in R&D to date.
- Commitment to standards development and basic research in chips, materials, and algorithms. Huawei holds more than 2,500 standard essential patents for 5G, which is roughly 20% of all 5G patents in the world.
Hu also talked about 5G rollout in China, where the government issued 5G licenses on June 6th.
