Japan telcos’ 5G nod cements curbs on Chinese vendors

Japan’s telcos were formally allocated 5G spectrum by regulators on Wednesday, a major milestone ahead of the launch of high-speed wireless services next spring.

The three big carriers — NTT Docomo, KDDI and SoftBank — along with new entrant Rakuten, received spectrum from the telecoms ministry.

The technology, which can provide data speeds at least 20 times faster than 4G, is seen as essential for emerging technologies from self-driving cars and smart cities to augmented reality and artificial intelligence.