Selection of the most influential events in the communications industry in 2020

Looking back at the year 2020, there are many events in the communications industry that are worth commenting on. The COVID-19 outbreak that occurred at the beginning of the year and has continued to this day has magnified the various events that are worth commenting on many times. Starting from the dimension of global competition and thinking from the perspective of the great changes that have not been seen in a century, which of the following two events do you prefer as the top event of operators in 2020? Or what do you think is worthy of being selected as the top event?

1. Contributed due value to the fight against the epidemic

Whether it is providing big data for the fight against the epidemic or providing network channels for various home work, life and study, operators are the key to our success in fighting the epidemic. If you can't imagine the value contribution of operators, then you can imagine that without the network support of operators, all your online operations after staying at home will become an unspeakable blank.

Although it cannot be compared with the obvious deeds of the angels in white who rushed to the front line to save lives and heal the wounded, the operators have made the same silent contributions as the majority of anti-epidemic checkpoints and community volunteers. Whether it is the angels in white or the operators, both of them have demonstrated their respective industry characteristics and job responsibilities, so it can be said that they are the same in terms of value, regardless of whether you are willing to give such a high evaluation.

Compared with human life, various technological advances are not worth mentioning. Although technological progress contributes to the continuation of human life, in such a special year as 2020, the performance of operators in the fight against the epidemic is enough to make them the first among various influential events. Only by surviving can we live better. If we can commend them, we hope or prefer to see the presence of operators.

As an important and indispensable invisible participant, the role of operators in helping to win the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic needs to be further discovered or explored, or even promoted. Compared with BATJ and other Internet companies that have already appeared at the forefront, operators who silently contribute at the back end need to be recognized by the whole society, after all, this is indispensable.

2. Return to the healthy path of sustainable revenue growth

After speed increases and fee reductions and a fierce competition, the operators have ruined themselves. The growth curve of the industry's main business income has fully demonstrated the result of being tough on themselves. This unsustainable way of playing is not only not conducive to providing better communication services to the general public, but also not conducive to the international competition for the global leading position in communication technology.

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The latest data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology shows that from January to November this year, my country's telecommunications business revenue totaled 1.2451 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.5%, and the growth rate increased by 0.2 percentage points compared with January to October. So far, the cumulative year-on-year growth in revenue in the first 11 months of this year has not only set a new annual high, but the revenue growth in November has also returned to the average level of the first half of this year.

If the first picture above does not attract your attention, then the second picture below is definitely worth pondering. The substantial growth of operators' various businesses cannot bring the expected revenue growth. The reason is either that there is a vacuum in supervision or that the supervision deviation is infinitely magnified by the operators themselves. As for which factor is the more important factor, you can speculate from the following data.

Regardless of whether there is a future merger or not, the reason why China Unicom and China Telecom are working together to build and share 5G is that they are facing a common dilemma: lack of money. Although China Unicom has received nearly 80 billion yuan in external investment after the mixed-ownership reform, compared with the investment demand of hundreds of billions or even trillions of yuan for 5G, China Unicom, even China Telecom, cannot support it with external funding support and its own cash flow.

If the new infrastructure requires the full involvement of 5G, then operators who are short of money simply cannot afford such high-end operations. To restore the operators’ operating income to positive growth and regain the growth trend from the net profit curve is not only an urgent need for operators, but also a common wish of all parties including regulators. After all, everyone has the same goal.

3. Why can’t various technical operations reach the top?

Readers who follow the communications industry and operators may list the official freeze of 5G R16 or the successful listing of China Radio and Television or other technical operations as the top of the list. Why don't we agree? In addition to the direct reasons listed above, more considerations are to insist that the goals and results of the development of the communications industry are centered on the overall situation of putting people at the center.

In the overall situation of putting people at the center, the two basic points that can be evaluated are not only helping to win the battle against the epidemic, but also maintaining the sustainable development capabilities of the industry. The establishment of China Radio and Television, the freezing of the 5G R16 version, and other 5G construction under the new infrastructure strategy can all be attributed to the pillars under these two basic points.

From a global macro perspective, under the shadow of the COVID-19 epidemic and the overall economic recession, the victory in the fight against the epidemic and the high probability that the revenue growth rate will exceed the GDP growth rate with the deep participation of operators have not only provided strong support for the country's full restart, but also provided a very worthy reference model for the world. After all, our revenue growth is achieved by increasing business volume rather than raising prices.

In addition, other major events may originate in 2020, such as the freezing of 5G R16 version and the establishment of China Radio and Television, but their influence will be more reflected in future years. The impact on the present is very limited. After all, R16 only provides the foundation for in-depth applications in the future, and China Radio and Television only makes future competition more imaginative.

The Communication People Forum is organizing netizens to select the top ten events in the communication industry in 2020. Although many netizens have provided various very meaningful references, if everyone's selection is limited to the purely technical level, then we suggest that everyone further broaden their thinking and think from a more macro and broader dimension. Of course, regardless of whether the views are consistent, we welcome everyone to share.