Why ordinary users don’t feel the 3rd anniversary of 5G license issuance

As of April this year, the total number of 5G base stations in China has reached 1.615 million, accounting for more than 60% of the total number of 5G base stations in the world. The number of 5G mobile phone users of the three major operators has reached 413 million, and the number of 5G mobile phone terminal connections has exceeded 520 million.

However, 5G construction is far from stopping. It is estimated that by the end of 2022, the total number of 5G base stations will exceed 2 million.

5G is "silent" in daily life

However, industry insiders believe that although 5G construction is advancing rapidly, it has "lost its voice" in residents' lives. Communications expert Ma Jihua said that the products currently used in the market are still from the 4G era, and even if 5G networks are not used, the impact will not be significant. In theory, the user experience rate of 5G networks reaches 1Gbps, the latency is as low as 1ms, and the user connection capacity reaches 1 million connections/square kilometer. However, for users who mainly watch videos and play games on weekdays, it is difficult to form a personal experience.

At the same time, operators are still promoting 5G packages among users. Data shows that the user penetration rates of 5G packages of China Telecom, China Unicom and China Mobile have reached 57.17%, 55% and 49.35% respectively. When 5G packages first came out, taking 30GB of monthly traffic as an example, the three major operators set the price at around 129 yuan. Although various discounts have led to a drop in prices, it is still over 100 yuan, while 4G packages are basically at the level of dozens of yuan. Many users reported that the more expensive 5G packages did not bring better quality enjoyment, and some users who applied for 5G chose to switch back to 4G.

Ma Jihua said that users' weak 5G experience has also affected the sales of 5G mobile phones, and smart homes currently do not seem to use 5G networks. Data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology also confirms this point. In the first quarter of this year, the total domestic mobile phone shipments totaled 69.346 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 29.2%; of which 5G mobile phone shipments were 53.884 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 22.9%, accounting for 77.7% of mobile phone shipments in the same period.

The monthly data is more telling. In March this year, the total shipments of the domestic mobile phone market were 21.46 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 40.5%. Among them, 5G mobile phone shipments were 16.185 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 41.1%, accounting for 75.4% of mobile phone shipments in the same period. In other words, the decline in 5G mobile phone shipments was higher than that of other products. Compared with the booming situation in 2021, when shipments increased by 63.5% year-on-year, 5G mobile phones seem to be unsalable.

Awaiting industry collaboration

What is more noteworthy is that each generation of technology has a certain window period. Ma Jihua said that people are now focusing on 6G research and development. The digital twins, telemedicine, industrial control, etc. carried by the 6G network can all be regarded as extensions of 5G. If 5G cannot form combat effectiveness as soon as possible, then it may really become a passing guest in the history of communication development, just like 3G.

Ye Ce, vice president of ZTE, analyzed that improving the presence of 5G does not only rely on network construction, but also requires collaboration at the industrial level. For example, in the 4G era, industries such as online payment, video, and food delivery have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, bringing great changes to residents' lives. These shocks from all aspects of life are far more than comparable to a slight increase in network speed. The deployment of 5G may also require a comprehensive subversion.

In addition, it cannot be ignored that the development of 4G network overlaps with the development trajectory of smart phones. For example, iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S were epoch-making works of Apple mobile phones, which gradually became popular all over the world. The period from iPhone 4 to iPhone 11 was also a window for the popularization of 4G network. Ye Ce believes that the outbreak of 5G still needs hardware equipment to act as a pioneer. Mobile phones need to change from a virtual toolbox to a remote control that commands everything. For example, the current VR and AR industries may pave the way for C-end applications of 5G. In short, relying on the coordination of various departments in the industrial chain can create an endless business closed loop.

How to break through in the future

In fact, some companies have already made plans for 5G C-end applications, such as the 5G messages and 5G new voice applications promoted by ZTE. In the 5G era, text messages and calls will no longer be simple text and voice interactions, but an interactive experience that integrates multiple means such as pictures, H5, VR, and AR.

The industry believes that this type of remote conferencing, including telemedicine, industrial control and other fields, is where 5G can really be used. The market is only focusing on the improvement in network speed, which is a bit short-sighted. The characteristic of 5G is that it can still maintain high-quality communication during large-scale movement. In other words, when using it, users will no longer be restricted by the signal source as they are now. This is the technical logic of remote conferencing, and similarly, it is also the foundation of unmanned driving.

Digital economist Liu Xingliang is optimistic about the future of 5G. He said that although the gap on the C-end still needs to be filled, it is undeniable that mines, ports and factories are being illuminated by 5G.

ZTE took Yunnan Wenshan Shenhuo Aluminum Co., Ltd. as an example to illustrate the huge efficiency of 5G in industry. The 5G+ digital twin platform it created has unified the terminal and platform connection, centralized production data aggregation, cloud deployment of industrial applications, and intelligent collaborative development of processes in the 9 categories and 27 businesses of the entire new park of Shenhuo Aluminum Co., Ltd., reducing the management risks of dangerous operation scenarios and the electricity consumption of electrolytic aluminum production.

The industry believes that before the 5G license was issued, there were more doubts, but now the power of 5G has gradually emerged. "We should do things as early as possible, especially for the future," Liu Xingliang said.