After three years of preparation, China Radio and Television's entry into 5G has its advantages and disadvantages

After 14 years of "three-kingdom melee" in the domestic communications market, on June 27 this year, China Radio and Television's 5G official website was officially launched, and 5G package processing services were fully launched. So far, the domestic communications market has entered the era of "four-kingdom war".

It is not surprising that China Radio and Television entered the market. As early as 2019, China Radio and Television obtained the 5G license. It took China Radio and Television three years to prepare for the official launch of 5G packages this year. For China Radio and Television, it is in a lagging and catching-up stage in the field of 5G communications, because the 5G users of the other three operators have already formed a scale and are developing in full swing. If China Radio and Television wants to gain a place under the huge competitive pressure, it still has a long way to go.

5G package competition: What are the advantages of China Radio and Television?

By comparing the main packages of the four operators (taking Guangdong as an example, as shown in Table 1 and Table 2), we can find the following information.

Table 1 Comparison of low-price packages of the four major operators

Source: Public information compilation

Table 2 Comparison of 5G packages of the four major operators

Source: Public information compilation

First, in terms of the richness of the packages , the mobile packages launched by China Radio and Television are divided into "Wonderful Package" and "5G Wonderful Package", but they are all single-product packages, and there is no fixed-mobile convergence product. Therefore, China Radio and Television's 5G packages are mainly for users who need single-product packages, and the product richness is far less than that of the other three operators.

Secondly, in terms of 5G number segments and network coverage , China Radio and Television used the "192" 5G 700MHz frequency band, which is the "golden frequency band" of 5G, which not only means lower 5G base station construction and maintenance costs, but also better network coverage capabilities. China Radio and Television built 200,000 700MHz 5G base stations in 2021 through co-construction and sharing with China Mobile, and plans to build another 280,000 700MHz 5G base stations this year. By then, the 700MHz network will achieve nationwide coverage. Therefore, China Radio and Television has certain advantages in 5G network coverage.

Finally, in terms of tariffs and content, among the packages below 100 yuan, China Telecom's package is the most affordable, followed by China Radio and Television. From the 5G regular packages promoted by the four operators, China Radio and Television is more favorable than the other three in terms of monthly fees and included traffic. It can be said that it is the 5G package with the lowest monthly fee and the highest traffic.

On the whole, if the integration factor is not taken into account, the 5G package launched by China Radio and Television this time can be said to be the most affordable among the four operators. Compared with packages of the same level, the monthly fee is about 10 yuan lower, and the traffic is more than 10G. This may become the biggest selling point of China Radio and Television.

Can China Broadcasting and Television shake up the 5G market?

For China Radio and Television, which is entering the mobile communications market for the first time, it is unlikely to achieve anything in the short term facing the three traditional giants.

First, from the product perspective, the 5G single-product packages launched by China Radio and Television are all 5G single-product packages. Under the current trend of promoting the "mobile + fixed + TV + X" full-service integrated packages, the disadvantages of single products are quite obvious. It is estimated that it will take a long time for China Radio and Television to launch its own integrated packages. Therefore, even if the products have certain price advantages, it is difficult to be favored by the market, the audience is relatively limited, and it is difficult to form a scale in the short term.

Secondly, from the perspective of internal operations, the reason why China Radio and Television has only launched a single 5G product package shows that the integration and coordination between its internal networks have not yet been resolved. China Radio and Television is the only one among the four operators that can achieve "three networks in one". If it can break down the barriers between internal networks and realize "three-network integration" as soon as possible, it may be more conducive to the promotion of its 5G packages.

Finally, from the perspective of channel touchpoints, the promotion of China Radio and Television's 5G product packages currently relies mainly on its official website. Offline channels are still in the stage of transformation, upgrading and expansion. It is difficult to roll out nationwide, and it is difficult for backend support and service personnel to be in place at one go. Therefore, at present, China Radio and Television's 5G channel touchpoints are still very few, and many users are not even aware of the launch of China Radio and Television's 5G packages.

In the short term, it will be very difficult for China Broadcasting Corporation's 5G packages to achieve good development, and it will hardly shake the market share and position of the other three operators in the 5G market. However, as a latecomer, if China Broadcasting Corporation lowers its profile, adopts reasonable strategies and tactics, and fights for every inch of land, it may also have a place in the future.

How can China Radio and Television break through in the 5G battlefield?

Faced with the numerous difficulties in the 5G battlefield, how should China Radio and Television break through? The author believes that we can think and explore from the following points.

First of all, the "three-network integration" is urgent. If China Radio and Television wants to compete with the other three operators in the 5G market, it must gradually break through its internal network and resource barriers and launch its own integrated packages as soon as possible; otherwise, it will be difficult to compete with the other three operators with full service integration by relying solely on the price advantage of a single 5G product.

Secondly, China Radio and Television needs to upgrade its offline business halls as soon as possible and launch 5G products in full. Other types of advertising campaigns should also be launched online as soon as possible to let users know about the launch of China Radio and Television's 5G products as soon as possible, highlight the selling points of China Radio and Television products, and develop a group of "early adopters" first.

Finally, focus on selecting market segments for breakthroughs. For China Radio and Television, it is indeed somewhat stretched to compete with the three traditional operators on the front battlefield, so China Radio and Television can consider opening up another battlefield and investing resources in areas with high TV resource coverage, such as rural towns and old residential areas, and relying on the accumulation of users on TV networks over the years to promote the development of 5G products. For example, China Radio and Television can promote the growth of 5G users by offering preferential policies such as free TV for half a year or a year with the launch of 5G packages.

China Radio and Television's entry into the 5G communications market is actually beneficial to the development of the communications industry. On the one hand, it avoids the monopoly of the three traditional operators and makes the communications market more market-oriented; on the other hand, it can also constantly urge other operators to work hard to improve services and user experience, thereby increasing user stickiness and avoiding user loss due to number portability. Therefore, with the support of national policies, China Radio and Television's entry into the 5G communications market is a coexistence of opportunities and challenges. Although it may be difficult to achieve impressive results in a short period of time, in the long run, relying on its own unique resource advantages, it is not impossible for China Radio and Television to get a share of the communications market.