The US is losing the 5G race. But Next-G is just getting started

A director at the US National Science Foundation has harsh words for the country’s telecommunications companies: We’ve lost the 5G race. But the Next-G game is just getting started, and US companies can win by playing to American strengths, said Sudharman Jayaweera, a program director at the National Science Foundation. In addition to telephone companies lagging, no US vendor has significant market share in the 5G infrastructure equipment market, which is dominated by Huawei, ZTE and other companies, Jayaweera said. The US lags in both research and true 5G networks. However, open source, open radio access networks (RAN) can play a role in the US gaining ascendancy in Next-G networking. For that, we need to get universities and research institutions more involved in open source, to build a local ecosystem that can support skilled workforce development in open source, open RAN and wireless technology. Next-G networks will be open and integrated across domains, which Jayaweera says can work to the US’s benefit, because it allows us to play to our strengths.