Wireless Wars: China's Dangerous Domination of 5G and How We're Fighting Back

Description

As the world rolls out transformational 5G services, it has become increasingly clear that China may be able to disrupt—or even access—the wireless networks that carry our medical, financial, and even military communications.    This insider story from a telecommunications veteran uncovers how we got into this mess—and how to change the outcome.   In Wireless Wars: China's Dangerous Domination of 5G and How We're Fighting Back, author Jon Pelson explains how America invented cellular technology, taught China how to make the gear, and then handed them the market. Pelson shares never-before-told stories from the executives and scientists who built the industry and describes how China undercut and destroyed competing equipment makers, freeing themselves to export their nation’s network gear—and their surveillance state. He also reveals China’s successful program to purchase the support of the world’s leading political, business, and military figures in their effort to control rival nations’ networks.    What’s more, Pelson draws on his lifelong experience in the telecommunications industry and remarkable access to the sector’s leaders to reveal how innovative companies can take on the Chinese threat and work with counterintelligence and cybersecurity experts to prevent China from closing the trap. He offers unparalleled insights into how 5G impacts businesses, national security and you. Finally, Wireless Wars proposes how America can use its own unique superpower to retake the lead from China.    This book is about more than just 5G wireless services, which enable self-driving cars, advanced telemedicine, and transformational industrial capabilities. It’s about the dangers of placing our most sensitive information into the hands of foreign companies who answer to the Chinese Communist Party. And it’s about the technology giant that China is using to project its power around the world; Huawei, a global super-company that has surged from a local vendor to a $120 billion-a-year behemoth in just a few years.    For anyone curious about the hottest issue at the intersection of technology and geopolitics, Wireless Wars offers an immersive crash course and an unforgettable read. Title Page Copyright Dedication Contents Prologue Introduction Part I: Creating an Industry 1. The Study 2. AT&T Creates a Business 3. Retaking the Lead 4. Losing the Plot 5. Poverty and the Power of Communications 6. The Price of Admission 7. The Birth of Huawei Part II: Giving It Away 8. Rising Star 9. Boom to Bust 10. Deal or No Deal 11. The Sincerest Form of Flattery 12. A Foothold in Europe 13. Sizing Up Huawei and the Global Marketplace 14. The End—For Now Part III: The Student Becomes the Master 15. Culture and Credit Cards 16. Brain Drain 17. Hunting Big Game 18. Leapfrog 19. Sniffing Around the Nuclear Missiles 20. Everyone Has a Price 21. The Debt Trap 22. Hacking a Continent 23. Bugs in the Walls Part IV: Too Much at Stake 24. Not If It’s War 25. China’s Use of Tech to Oppress 26. No Way Out? 27. 5G Is Different 28. Dangerous Designs: Why We Need to Care 29. If It’s So Risky . . . Part V: Taking It Back 30. Building a Response 31. Our Superpower 32. The Role of Government 33. Riding the Wave of Chaos 34. The New Ecosystem Epilogue A Note Regarding Sources Acknowledgments Notes Index About the Author