Country that wins 5G leadership will be dominant player on the globe says U.S. General

Leadership in 5G is important, and the General pointed out that the next generation in wireless will impact "all aspects of our society from banking to the medicine field, to the smart cities that we have ambitions for." 5G can provide peak data speeds up to 20 times faster than 4G LTE, allowing for the creation of new businesses and capabilities. Jones, who also served under President George W. Bush as the supreme allied commander of NATO forces in Europe, says that the 5G technology created in the U.S. will be more secure. It will allow citizens to have private phone conversations, allow corporations to protect their patents and make governments more secure.

Jones is parroting the U.S. government's fear that networking equipment from companies like Huawei spy on consumers and corporations and send information to the Chinese government. President Trump is expected to sign an order that will ban U.S. carriers from using networking equipment from Chinese manufacturers. The U.S. has also warned its allies about using gear from Huawei and fellow "national security threat" ZTE to build out their 5G pipelines. Both firms deny that their equipment spies on behalf of the Chinese government.

The General made it clear that wireless providers around the globe have a choice to make. "You can either go for the cheap, seductive but extremely vulnerable system that will take all of your privacy, your intellectual property and your secrets back to Beijing. Or you can invest a little bit more money and have a more secure society," he said.