The road ahead is long and arduous. When will 5G packages become available to ordinary people?

"I won't buy any non-5G mobile phones", "Why are 5G packages so expensive?".....

When we are clamoring that "we will not buy any non-5G mobile phones" and rejecting Huawei's "4G+Wi-Fi6", we have to complain about the high cost of 5G packages, which makes ordinary consumers stay away from them. However, most people are still playing with 5G mobile phones and consuming 4G traffic. "Preparing for the 5G era" has "passively" become a rigid demand of consumers, paving the way for operators to promote 5G.

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However, "the swallows that used to fly in front of the halls of the Wang and Xie families now fly into the homes of ordinary people." If 5G charges do not decrease substantially, the road to 5G popularization will be long and arduous.

In full swing

Urgently needed 5G technology and 5G packages

With the in-depth development of the Internet of Things, edge computing, big data and other fields, 5G technology with advantages such as high bandwidth and low latency has greatly improved the efficiency of digital transmission and continued to promote the upgrading and development of various industries. According to a Qualcomm report, by 2035, 5G will create $12.3 trillion in economic output worldwide. It is expected that from 2020 to 2035, 5G's contribution to global GDP growth will be equivalent to an economy of the same size as India.

Taking edge computing as an example, nowadays, the cloud and the edge increasingly emphasize high bandwidth and low latency of network transmission, especially the edge. It not only emphasizes the ability to process data in real time, but also requires the transmission of the computing structure to the cloud or terminal devices. Technologies or protocols such as 5G and Wi-Fi6 play an important role.

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At the same time, the Internet of Things is the prelude and foundation of 5G commercialization. The Internet of Things provides a brand-new stage for 5G. On this stage, 5G can play its powerful role and value through Internet of Things applications such as smart agriculture, smart logistics, smart home, Internet of Vehicles, and smart cities. The two complement each other and work together for the benefit of human society.

From the consumer side, as of the end of the third quarter, the number of 5G package customers of China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom were 331 million, 156 million, and 137 million, respectively, totaling 624 million. It is worth mentioning that China Mobile also disclosed that the number of 5G network customers reached 160 million. Judging from the disclosed data, China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom are vigorously promoting 5G packages, and 5G packages are being needed. This promotion and need have reached a tacit understanding, which can allow 5G packages to continue to develop.

It is worth noting that the number of China Mobile's 5G package customers far exceeds the actual 5G network customers. In other words, a large number of customers who have activated 5G packages are actually still using 4G traffic. This is really incredible, and the reason behind it is worth pondering.

Slow Cook

Will the popularization of 5G packages follow the path of 4G popularization?

Previously, the emergence of data cards such as "Tencent King Card" and "Da Shen Card", with their cheap directional data packages and 1 yuan/G/day tariff, has made 4G networks truly accessible to ordinary people. Watching videos, watching Douyin, and playing games are no longer restricted to fixed places and fixed time periods. People can even watch TV series and play a game on their way to work, which greatly facilitates people's lives, work, and study.

With the commercial use of 5G, 5G packages have gradually come into people's view. However, the "high" charges have gradually become a "shackle" for consumers. Take China Mobile's 128 yuan package as an example. 128 × 12 months / 354 days = 4.2 / day, which is equivalent to 4.2 yuan per day. Although operators are trying their best to lower the rate standard, it is still far higher than the 4G rate of 1G / day. The popularization of 5G seems to also need opportunities similar to the "Tencent King Card" to lower the overall charges of operators.

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Judging from the 5G package charges of the three major operators, China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom, the current starting price is 130 yuan. The monthly package fees of China Mobile and China Telecom are up to about 600 yuan, providing 300GB of 5G traffic and 3,000 minutes of voice calls. China Mobile's 300GB and 3,000 minutes of voice calls also cost 599 yuan.

In addition, the initial price of the 5G package is basically 129 yuan, including 30GB of 5G traffic and 500 minutes of talk time. Overall, the price is expensive and far exceeds the consumption capacity of ordinary people. The 4G package I currently use is less than 10 yuan for the mobile basic package, and 1 yuan/1GB/day of traffic is activated, and the actual cost is less than 50 yuan. Compared with the current price of the author, the 5GB package is still a high-end consumption.

In addition, China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom do not have pure 5G data packages, that is, if you buy a 5G package, you need to bind a certain amount of voice calls. Take China Mobile as an example, its 129 yuan package not only includes 30GB of data, but also 500 minutes of calls. The author believes that this package setting method is undoubtedly a forced sales promotion, especially today when phone calls are decreasing.

Get rid of stumbling blocks

5G package charges should not become a shackle

As 2G and 3G are gradually withdrawn from the network, 5G has gradually become a network promoted globally, not only in China, but also in the United States. Previously, the three major mobile operators in the United States, ATT, T-Mobile and Verizon, planned to shut down their 3G networks in the next 18 months. T-Mobile will cancel the CDMA 3G network around January 1, 2022, and cancel the UMTS 3G network in April 2022. ATT will shut down 3G services in February, while Verizon will hold on the longest and set its sights on December. 2G and 4G networks will still exist for quite a long time.

From the perspective of enterprise digital transformation, future Internet of Things, Internet of Vehicles, and artificial intelligence, 5G and Wi-Fi 6 are gradually closely integrated with various emerging technologies. The combination of 5G and robots brings higher bandwidth and lower latency for artificial intelligence data transmission. Looking to the future, 5G is gradually showing more charm and promoting the further development of industrial Internet.

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As for families or individual consumers, the development of AIoT, especially the home IoT, is becoming more and more in-depth. 5G has gradually become a link between people and things, and things and things, and has brought high transmission rates, further improving the quality of life of consumers. And with the popularization of 5G mobile phones, the limitation of 5G development is no longer the terminal equipment, but the price level of 5G packages.

Because of this, 5G package charges should not become a shackle on the development of 5G.

Final Thoughts

Looking to the future, the popularization of 5G still has a long way to go. Whether at the enterprise level or the consumer level, it needs to break free from one "shackle" after another, and the "tariff" issue should not be a stumbling block to the commercial use of 5G. In any case, operators should open their minds and let 5G packages fly into ordinary people's homes.