India, Aug. 23 -- Certain US officials seem terrified that China will dominate 5G and use it as a springboard to world hegemony like some cat-stroking Bond villain with a dangerous new weapon. While the US prevaricates over a merger between Sprint and T-Mobile, and thirsts for mid-band spectrum, China is speeding ahead in a demonstration of state capitalism's effectiveness.
But recent earnings updates from China's big three operators show they are struggling to pay for their next-generation networks. Just like Europe's ailing, over-regulated telcos, China Telecom and China Unicom are even talking about sharing 5G networks to relieve the individual burden.
Unicom was the first to suggest that it needed a 5G ally when it referred to a "co-b...