EncryptoTel weekly digest (12.11.19)
New 5G Records, China’s Plans and Forecasts for the Future of the Payment and Telecom Industries
In Switzerland, download speed on 5G smartphones reached 3.67 Gb/s
Huawei and Sun Telecom, a European telecom company, have achieved download speed of 3.67 Gb/s on smartphones with 5G network support. This was recorded in Zurich near one of the 5G cells during testing.
Sunrise is the first telecommunications company in Europe to launch 5G network. Through collaboration with Huawei, a Swiss telecommunications company currently provides 5G coverage in 262 Swiss cities and villages.
Study: 2.07 billion people use mobile e-wallet for payments in 2019
Over 2 years, the number of users of mobile electronic wallets will jump by almost a third, according to a report by the Global Acceptance Transaction Engine (GATE), dedicated to the global market of electronic wallets and payments. If at the end of 2017 the number of mobile e-wallet users was 1.6 billion, then in 2019 about 2.07 billion people will use such applications with more than half of them (56%) from China, 14% from India, and only 6% from the US.
The largest e-wallet operators in the world are Alipay, WeChat, African MPesa, PayPal, Indian PayTM. The key challenges facing this industry today are frauds, compliance and increased sales conversions.
China thought about developing a 6G network
The Ministry of Science and Technology of China announced the start of work on the sixth generation of mobile communications (6G). Two working groups will be involved in the development: the first will consist of representatives of ministries and departments, the second — of researchers and scientists from 37 universities, research organizations and IT companies. What exactly is meant by 6G networks and what technical characteristics these networks will possess is not yet clear.
It is curious that in February 2019, U.S. President Donald Trump wrote about the need for 6G network. Then he published a series of tweets saying that the United States should be the first in the development of telecommunication. In his first tweet, he wrote that he wants 5G and even 6G technologies to appear in the US as soon as possible, as they offer a more powerful, faster and smarter connection than current communication standards. And in June 2019, it became known that the South Korean holding Samsung began work on 6G technology.
Forecast: About a third of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices will be shipped to IoT markets
According to ABI Research, the global market for Internet of Things (IoT) will account for 31% of the total supply of Bluetooth devices and 27% of Wi-Fi devices in 2024. This is several times higher compared to 13% and 10% in 2018, respectively.
It is expected that in 2024 for the first time the IoT market will surpass the smartphone market in demand for Bluetooth devices. The report also notes the growing demand for smart watches, trackers and smart clothes. By 2024, the number of wearable devices with Bluetooth support will hit 400 million units.
Personal experience: tourists in China face problems due to sellers refusing to accept cash
Uptin Saidi, a CNBC correspondent, told how he faced the inability to pay for goods and services in China with cash. According to him, AliPay and WeChat Pay payment applications have gained such popularity among the Chinese that cash has almost gone out of use even in areas such as taxis.
“I did not speak Chinese, and he did not speak English. He shook his head violently, refusing to accept payment, and pointed to his phone. He insisted that I pay via QR code — a popular payment method in China. After long conversations when I told him that I have neither WeChat Pay nor AliPay, I handed over the money to the hotel staff <…> This applies not only to transport, even in stores and places native to the US like Starbucks and 7-Eleven, if you don’t pay with your smartphone, then you look weird. “
But foreigners cannot create an account in AliPay and WeChat Pay with the same ease as the people of China. This requires a Chinese bank account and phone number. Last week, AliPay announced that foreigners will be able to link foreign issued Visa and Mastercard cards to AliPay accounts.
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