China Unicom and China Telecom refuted the rumor that some 5G networks were shut down and the first batch of users were abandoned

Some media reported that "the first tens of millions of 5G users were treated as guinea pigs and ruthlessly abandoned by operators." In response, China Unicom and China Telecom clearly replied on the same day that the above news was untrue and there was no so-called closure of non-independent 5G networks.

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The media said that after China Unicom announced that it would shut down 5GNSA (non-standalone networking) mode base stations, another user found that his 5GNSA mobile phone could no longer access China Telecom's 5G network. This means that both China Telecom and China Unicom will shut down 5GNSA base stations and use 5GSA (standalone networking) mode to build 5G networks, and it also means that tens of millions of 5GNSA mobile phone users sold in the early stage in China have been officially abandoned by operators.

China Unicom said that the so-called "China Unicom announced that it will shut down 5GNSA base stations" is actually a complete rumor. "We have noticed that the fonts and seals of the so-called China Unicom documents that have been leaked online are wrong," the person from China Unicom told the Beijing Daily client reporter.

China Telecom said that in the initial stage of 5G network construction, independent networking and non-independent networking modes were indeed mixed and run in parallel for a period of time, but with the advancement of technology and the improvement of the industrial chain, they will eventually transition to independent networking mode.

However, the relevant person from China Telecom also made it clear that, first of all, even in the 5G network with independent networking mode, it does not mean that early 5G NSA mobile phones cannot be used; secondly and more importantly, China Telecom has not so-called completely shut down 5G NSA base stations.

"The 4G network base stations have not been dismantled or shut down, so how could the 5G base stations and networks that have just been built have the problem of dismantling and shutting down?" said the relevant person from China Telecom.

The reporter noticed that 5G network construction is divided into two major modes: NSA (non-standalone networking) and SA (standalone networking). NSA is the core network shared by 5G and 4G networks, while SA is an independently built 5G core network. Relatively speaking, the 5G network in the standalone networking mode is faster, has higher bandwidth, and has better overall performance.

It is worth noting that even in today's 5G era, the coverage and number of domestic 2G and 3G networks and base stations are still large, and there are still many related mobile phone users. The operators still have no clear timetable for a comprehensive shutdown.

For operators at this stage, 5G users are the target of their efforts. Users who have already joined the network and purchased 5G mobile phones are undoubtedly the core users of operators. At present, they will not encounter the so-called "abandonment" problem, and operators are even less likely to take radical measures such as shutting down some 5G base stations and networks.