Ways of Transitioning to the New Technological Standards Used by the International Telecommunication Companies in the Conditions of Regional Political and Economic Restrictions on Key Foreign-Controlled Suppliers

The trade war between the United States and China, the two biggest economies in the world, has been going on since 2018 and has affected many industries and dragged other countries into the fray. This research paper focuses on the global telecommunications industry, specifically on the wireless telecommunications part of the telecommunication sector. In this research paper, we analyzed the effect of the political and economic restrictions on key suppliers in the industry on the ways of transitioning to the newest technological standard in the international telecommunications industry by the major players. We analyzed previous research on the importance of the newest technological standard for the international telecommunications industry and how it is being implemented as well as the research on how the restrictions are affecting the industry. We investigated the companies’ annual reports, analyzed the supply chain and the changes to it as well as the changes to the companies’ strategies pertaining to the implementations of 5G. Based on the results, we demonstrated that the political and economic restrictions on key suppliers in this industry did not have a financial impact on the industry’s players, contrary to our original hypothesis. We were, however, able to demonstrate that the political and economic restrictions on the key suppliers have led to the restructuring of the supply chain, with many western companies shifting away from China towards European companies. Finally, we were able to demonstrate that the most prominent players in the international telecommunications industry changed their strategies of implementing 5G by moving towards the O-RAN technology, which allows the companies to diversify their supply chains. However, there were limitations to this research, which we acknowledge in this paper, as well as provide directions for further research.