SYDNEY: The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), a US-based think tank for science and technology policy, has published a report claiming that China’s long-standing state-backing of Huawei and ZTE has enabled the two companies to seize global market share from far more innovative international competitors, in particular Nokia and Ericsson.

ITIF president and author of the report, Robert Atkinson, said: “Without unfair innovation mercantilist policies and programs, China would lack a globally competitive telecom equipment industry, and more innovative foreign companies would be larger and even more innovative …

“While it is impossible to definitively know how much added innovation the world would see today if Huawei and ZTE wouldn’t exist, evidence suggests that there would be more innovative firms outside of China.”

He is calling for “democratic, market-based nations to work together and support global innovation by no longer purchasing equipment from Huawei and ZTE, actively deploying advanced, allied-nation-produced broadband equipment, and encouraging other nations to buy non-Chinese telecom gear.”

The report estimates that, if Ericsson and Nokia took all Huawei and ZTE sales, there would be 20 percent more global telecom equipment R&D and 75 percent more essential 5G patents. – Stuart Corner