Workers install a 5G base station. (Photo provided by China Mobile Guizhou)

A Chinese scholar visiting the US who had previously been reported missing has been found, with poor phone signal in New York taking the blame.

The scholar, Wang Mianmian from the Communication University of Zhejiang, was reported missing by her family on Dec. 1, after they failed to hear from her for two days.

This message gained attention on Chinese social media, and was forwarded by a large number of internet users who wanted to lend a hand.

Fortunately, a day later, Wang wrote on social media that she was safe, and poor mobile connection meant she had not been able to connect with her family.

“Little did I know that there wasn’t any connection, even along the expressways, and the signal came back by chance when I passed by a town, but it disappeared again soon after I decided to send a message,” she wrote.

This “false alarm” amused Chinese internet users, who joked that the US, the technological leader of the world, still suffered such trivial problems in the 21st century.

According to a field test in Manhattan by a Chinese media outlet, the phone connection is strong near subway stations, but connection speed was slow on the streets and at cinemas. There wasn’t any connection on the subway.

As a matter of fact, poor cell phone signal is prevalent around the world. There are about 6 million 4G base stations around the globe, and 4.6 million are in China. The US is only home to 300,000 stations.

As a result, the per capita possession of 4G base stations in China is 2.5 times that in the US, making China the best-performing country regarding mobile signal coverage among all of the world’s major economies.

Thanks to China’s efforts to expand mobile signal coverage, signal towers and base stations now cover almost all administrative villages and remote mountainous areas, and the communication charges in these regions are as cheap as those in urban areas.

This is indeed a result of an “anti-market law” policy, as the construction and operation costs in densely-populated areas are much lower than in remote areas. However, it is also a result of China’s institutional advantage. After decades of efforts, phone signal in China’s remote villages is now even stronger than in many capitals of the most-developed countries.

Compared with the situation in China, US communication carriers are much more market-oriented, and the best signal can be found where the money is. For private carriers, it’s profit that counts, and the government has no right to order them about. It's for this reason that the visiting scholar lost contact with her family.