Wireless Wars
China's Dangerous Domination of 5G and How We're Fighting Back
by Jonathan Pelson
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Pub Date Sep 28 2021 | Archive Date Oct 01 2021
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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.
Advance Praise
“Wireless Wars captures the totality of the decades-long commercial and government effort by the CCP to dominate telecommunications infrastructure and operations across the entire globe. By avoiding technical jargon and highlighting key concepts through pithy summaries of hundreds of insider interviews, Wireless Wars translates a complex subject into a clear, articulable framework on how we got into this predicament and how we can get out of it. Jon Pelson’s thirty-plus years of in-depth experience within the US telecommunications manufacturing and operations sector fused with well-researched and meticulously documented source material on Huawei, ZTE, and other PRC telecommunications companies makes for an extremely compelling must-read for industry experts, intelligence professionals, policy makers, and concerned citizens interested in protecting our nation.”
—William Evanina, former director of the National Counterintelligence Center
“Wireless Wars shines a bright light on the ongoing battle for national supremacy and global security in cyberspace, with China and the United States being the primary actors, and 5G networks providing the latest battleground. Jon Pelson has an insider’s knowledge of this territory, and his book has important implications not only for policy makers, defense leaders, and technology investors, but for interested citizens, as well.”
—Geoffrey A. Moore, international bestselling author of Crossing the Chasm
“In Wireless Wars, Jon Pelson accurately depicts the transfer, both consciously and unconsciously, of US wireless equipment manufacturing to China. Having been at some of those meetings he depicts in the late 1990s and early 2000s and scratching my head, asking, ‘What’s really going on here?’, he fills in a lot of blanks that now, in retrospect, make sense. He touches on some important points about how seemingly benign behaviors, such as increased standards participation, global manufacturing, and investment policy, have turned out to have sinister motivations and results. As he notes, this is not just about getting cheaper network infrastructure. This is about what happens when a hostile government subsidizes vendors to take over a market, force the bankruptcy or mergers of vendors who played by the rules and had millions of dollars of R&D stolen, and the resulting national security threats of having untrusted vendors subject to government control with their equipment sitting in some of our most sensitive networks.”
—Eric Burger, former chief technology officer of the Federal Communications Commission and professor at Georgetown University
“Wireless Wars chronicles how America squandered a virtually insurmountable technological lead in the telecommunications equipment market, allowing China to gain preeminence. It makes a compelling argument on the necessity of the US regaining leadership in this vital sector. More important, it charts a path for achieving that goal. A must-read for anyone interested in 5G, innovation, and national competitiveness.”
—Joseph B. Fuller, professor of management practice at Harvard Business School and founder of Monitor Consulting
“China’s rulers are waging a war for global dominance on many fronts—the technological battlefield prominent among them. In Wireless Wars, Jonathan Pelson brings clarity to how we got here, how high the stakes are, and how we can win.”
—Clifford D. May, president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Marketing Plan
Jon is available for speaking engagements, interviews, book club discussions, signings, and readings.
Please contact the marketer if you're interested!
Jon is available for speaking engagements, interviews, book club discussions, signings, and readings.
Please contact the marketer if you're interested!
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781953295613 |
| PRICE | $27.95 (USD) |
| PAGES | 328 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Taylor G, Reviewer
An incredibly fascinating and well researched read about modern global telecommunication infrastructure like 5G, the differences between how US and Chinese companies operate, and how companies like Huawei have worked hand in hand with the Chinese government to leapfrog other international competitors.
This book goes into the history of telecommunication companies like AT&T, Huawei, and others. This is one of the most timely and important reads I've read this year. I would recommend this to anyone wanting to learn more about how Chinese companies operate, the history of telecommunication infrastructure, or anyone interested in geopolitics.
