China's lead, in rolling out 5G before anyone else in a complete 5G environment, may be insurmountable.If China gets there first and starts using it widely in applications, it would do at least two things. One is to set standards, technical specifications others may follow. Two is develop software to take advantage of all these new capabilities.
A country not keeping up with this 5G, will lose out in not being able to compete, at least that is the big concern.