China gives green light for local 5G rollout amid tech tensions with US

China on Thursday gave its major state-owned companies the green light to start rolling out 5G services in its efforts to move ahead in the global race for setting up the super-fast telecommunications system, amid simmering tensions with the US over technology and trade.

Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on Thursday issued 5G commercial licenses to China Telecom, China Mobile, China Unicom and China Radio and Television. It means those carriers can start rolling out commercial 5G applications. They were given a license for testing at the end of last year.