LONDON — In smoke-filled conference halls and nondescript hotels from Brussels to Busan, South Korea, a years long battle has been underway for control over the future of the mobile world.

That fight is now coming to an end.

More than 600 government officials and telecoms executives agreed in June to a first round of global standards for so-called 5G telecommunications infrastructure, or the next generation of mobile networks, at a ballroom on the outskirts of San Diego, California. (A second round will be negotiated by the end of 2019.)

The agreement — a much-needed step to enable smartphones, mobile devices and, eventually, autonomous cars to work anywhere in the world — cannot be overstated. (…)

This is an excerpt from an article that appeared in POLITICO Europe on 1 July. You can read it in full here.