Japan’s 2020 5G plans may be delayed by South Korea trade conflict

apan’s plan to launch commercial 5G services in 2020 devolved from ambitious to laggard when carriers in the U.S., South Korea, China, and Europe moved up their 5G launch dates, but until now there wasn’t much question of Japan achieving its goal. Unfortunately, company officials are now warning that a trade conflict between Japan and key 5G device supplier South Korea could starve the island nation of the hardware needed for its launch. According to the Korea Times, worsening conflict between the Japanese and South Korean governments is threatening the recently positive relationship between Japanese and South Korean telecom companies, as Japan has removed South Korea from a whitelist of trusted trading partners and South Koreans are contemplating boycotts of both Japanese companies and the upcoming Tokyo Summer Olympics. The Olympics kick off in late July 2020 and were supposed to be Japan’s showcase for next-generation technologies, including 5G cellular service and 8K video broadcasting.