Mid- and low-frequency refarming is used to accelerate 2G/3G network withdrawal from 5G

Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued 5G medium and low frequency band frequency use licenses to the three major operators, China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom, for a period of ten years.

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As early as 2018, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued 5G mid- and low-frequency band experimental frequency use licenses to the three operators. After the expiration of the validity period, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a ten-year 5G frequency use license to the three basic telecommunications operators upon application, and at the same time authorized some existing 4G frequency resources to be re-cultivated for 5G.

It mentions "permitting some existing 4G frequency resources to be recultivated for use in 5G", and "recultivation" sends a strong signal.

2.1G frequency band re-farming

Usually, when operators consider 5G full coverage, they will use low-frequency bands as the coverage layer, mid-frequency bands as the capacity layer, and millimeter-wave high-frequency bands as the high-capacity layer (hotspot).

Because the high frequency band has a high data transmission rate, but the coverage radius is small and the signal penetration is poor; the low frequency band has a low data transmission rate, but the coverage radius is large and the signal penetration is good. The low frequency band is used for wide coverage and deep coverage, which can reduce the number of base stations and reduce signal blind spots.

Currently, the 5G frequencies adopted by global operators are mainly concentrated in the medium and low frequency bands, especially around 3.5GHz.

The 5G medium and low frequency band use licenses obtained by my country's operators are:

China Mobile obtained 160MHz bandwidth of 2515-2675Mhz and 100MHz bandwidth of 4.8-4.9Ghz, China Telecom obtained the 3.5GHz frequency band (3400MHz-3500MHz), China Unicom obtained the 3.5GHz frequency band (3500MHz-3600MHz), and China Broadcasting Corporation obtained the 4.9GHz frequency band (4900MHz-5000MHz).

Among them, the 5G frequency bands of China Telecom and China Unicom are continuous. The two companies have announced that they will jointly build and share 5G wireless access networks based on the continuous 200MHz bandwidth of 3400MHz-3600MHz; China Mobile and China Broadcasting Corporation have also announced that they will share the 2.6GHz frequency band 5G network, and jointly invest in the construction of 700MHz5G wireless network in a 1:1 ratio, and jointly own and have the right to use 700MHz5G wireless network assets.

In addition to the popular 3.5G band, the 2.1G band is also a must-see for 5G mid- and low-frequency bands, because the 2.1G band can effectively enhance the capacity and coverage of the 3.5G band.

Therefore, the hybrid networking of 2.1G and 3.5G frequency bands is an important idea for building high-quality 5G networks. Since the 2.1GHz frequency band is lower and has a wider coverage range, it can provide uplink capacity supplement and deep coverage extension, and flexibly network according to construction needs to improve user perception. Carrier aggregation can give full play to the advantages of 2.1GHz uplink coverage and 3.5GHz downlink capacity, achieve matching of uplink and downlink coverage capabilities, and thus achieve flexible network coverage.

In addition, re-farming the existing 2.1G frequency band and equipment to 5G can increase the speed of 5G network construction, while reducing construction resource investment and lowering construction difficulty, which is an important means to improve the efficiency of 5G network construction.

At present, China Telecom and China Unicom are actively extending the co-construction and sharing of 3.5GHz 5G networks to 2.1GHz.

It is understood that China Unicom's 3G network has a 15 MHz bandwidth in the 2.1G band, its 4G network has a 10 MHz bandwidth in the 2.1G band, and China Telecom's 4G network has a 20 MHz bandwidth in the 2.1G band. In this way, China Unicom and China Telecom have a 45 MHz bandwidth in the 2.1G band.

If 2G/3G networks are decommissioned, some spectrum resources will be released for 5G network coverage.

In addition, based on the advantages of continuous large-bandwidth resources in the FDD frequency band jointly built and shared by China Telecom, through cross-band carrier sharing of 1.8+2.1GHz, a large bandwidth of 2×90MHz can be used, which has good coverage and capacity potential.

In short, the 3.5G carrier is shared by China Unicom and China Telecom, and the 200M bandwidth 1.8G and 2.1G are upgraded through the existing base station indoor distributed system to achieve 4G/5G carrier sharing and dynamic scheduling, and are used to supplement the uplink, expand the coverage radius, reduce latency and increase network speed.

2G/3G network withdrawal acceleration

According to a Strategy Analytics report: At the beginning of 2020, 2G and 3G users accounted for 46% of the total number of mobile users worldwide, but the revenue they contributed only accounted for 27% of the total global mobile revenue. By 2023, this revenue share will drop to 10%.

More and more operators have released 2G/3G network withdrawal plans: some countries in North America and Asia-Pacific are at the forefront of the global 2G/3G network withdrawal process, and the 2G/3G network withdrawal process in other regions is also in full swing. For example: the Indian market is accelerating its transition to 4G, and India's Airtel has shut down its 3G network in stages; the Netherlands shut down 3G in February 2020; Telia and Telenor's joint venture in Denmark, TT-Netvaerket, will gradually phase out 3G from April 2021; and Vodafone has also stated that it will shut down 3G across Europe by 2022.

my country's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has previously stated that the conditions for the withdrawal of 2G and 3G networks have gradually matured, and operators are encouraged to actively guide users to migrate and switch networks, and use limited frequency and network resources in the development of 5G and 4G mobile communication networks to reduce overall costs.

On November 12, 2020, Miao Shouye, head of China Unicom's 5G co-construction and sharing working group, revealed: "China Unicom has planned to withdraw 2G from 240 local networks by the end of this year, and will achieve a full withdrawal of 2G by the end of next year at the earliest. To focus on the development of 5G, it is necessary to reduce the constraints of 2G/3G. China Unicom has formulated a strategy and plan to evolve resolutely towards a minimalist network."

At the same time, China Unicom is also advancing its 3G network withdrawal. "First, 3G will be reduced to 1 carrier frequency by the end of the year, and VoLTE development will be accelerated to replace 3G voice, and 3G will be gradually withdrawn from the network; finally, a simplified target network with 4G+5G collaboration will be formed," said Miao Shouye.

Currently, China Unicom is encouraging 2G users in various provinces to replace their phones. At the same time, it is also reducing the frequency of 2G network base stations. The most important task at present is to enable these old 2G users to upgrade their terminals as soon as possible.

China Telecom has begun the process of withdrawing 3G network. Starting from June 1, 2020, China Telecom will gradually shut down the 3G network in Yunnan.

In June 2020, China Mobile Group conducted a special investigation on IoT technology, business development strategies and strengthening of NB-IoT network construction. It clearly stated that NB-IoT and 4G Cat1/1bis technologies will take over 2G IoT business and decided to stop adding new 2G IoT users before 2020.