With high charges and slow speeds, how can operators attract consumers to upgrade to 5G?

5G has been commercially available for a year, and the performance of the three operators can only be described as unsatisfactory. Data released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology show that the three operators have 180 million 5G package users. Calculated, the 5G penetration rate is only about 11%. Other data show that 4G users account for 80%.

Putting aside the fact that the number of 5G package users is inflated, if we calculate based on real figures, the annual penetration rate of 5G is only a little over 10%, which is a very poor performance. When it comes to the reasons why consumers are reluctant to upgrade to 5G, many people can give a lot of reasons, which are nothing more than high fees, poor network coverage, lack of applications, etc.

From the perspective of consumers, the main reason for not wanting to upgrade to 5G is that the network coverage is too poor, and the high fees are also a reason. After one year of 5G commercialization, the three operators have 180 million users, and the next step is how to expand more 5G users. Frankly speaking, in the next few years, operators will face greater challenges in 5G operations, and the biggest challenge is how to convince consumers to upgrade to 5G.

How can operators solve the problem of high cost of 5G network construction?

Compared with 4G and 3G networks, the construction cost of 5G networks is very high, so high that operators can hardly afford it. According to predictions by experts in the communications industry, the cost of building a 5G network is as high as one trillion yuan. In the past year, the three operators have invested hundreds of billions of yuan in 5G network construction.

According to the financial report, China Mobile, which has the best performance, has a profit of over 100 billion yuan a year. In the past year, China Mobile has invested more than 100 billion yuan in 5G construction. However, what results have been achieved in exchange for the investment of hundreds of billions of yuan? Simply put, there are less than 400,000 5G base stations and a 5G core network. You know, this is the result of consuming China Mobile's profit for a year.

The embarrassing thing is that 400,000 base stations are just the tip of the iceberg in 5G construction. Currently, the three operators have 5.5 million 4G base stations. To achieve the same coverage scale as the 4G network, the 5G network conservatively estimates that 11 million base stations are needed. In other words, China Mobile invested a year's profit and only built hundreds of thousands of base stations and core networks. Obviously, the high cost of 5G network construction puts operators under tremendous pressure.

Without sufficient funds to build 5G networks, it will be difficult to improve network coverage in the short term, and consumers will be reluctant to upgrade to 5G networks. In the long run, this will form a vicious cycle. When profits are difficult to support 5G network construction, how can operators solve the problem of high 5G network construction costs?

Consumers are reluctant to upgrade to 5G due to high fees and slow speed

Since the three operators do not have sufficient funds, after a year of construction, the 5G network coverage has not improved much. Judging from the number of base stations, 600,000 base stations are far from the target of 11 million, which means that there is no 5G signal in many places.

For consumers, poor network coverage is an important reason why many people are reluctant to upgrade to 5G. Just imagine, which user is willing to pay for a 5G package and only use the 4G network? More importantly, after having 180 million users, the speed experience of the 5G network has declined significantly, which are all negative factors that affect consumers' upgrading to 5G.

According to feedback from some netizens, when 5G networks were first put into commercial use last year, the Internet speed was able to reach more than 800M most of the time. Now, the 5G network speed can only reach about 400-500M, and rarely reaches 800M. It is not difficult to see that in a year, the 5G network speed has shrunk to half. From a technical point of view, it is normal for 5G network speed to slow down after the number of users increases, after all, the bandwidth is shared.

As we all know, when 4G networks were first put into commercial use, the speed was basically above 80M. As the number of users increased, the 4G speed dropped to around 50M. In the past one or two years, the 4G speed has dropped to around 20M, and in some areas it has dropped to around 10M. For the same reason, as the number of 5G users increases, the speed will certainly drop.

On the other hand, 5G networks have no other advantages except for faster speeds. Currently, 4G networks are also available. 5G networks are expensive, have lower speeds, and have imperfect signal coverage. Consumers are definitely unwilling to upgrade to 5G. Undoubtedly, how to convince consumers to switch to 5G packages is also a difficult problem for operators.

In conclusion: Objectively speaking, it is not easy for the three operators to expand 180 million users in just one year with imperfect network coverage and high fees. However, if more consumers want to upgrade to 5G, operators must improve network coverage and launch more applications for 5G. Otherwise, consumers will not be willing to upgrade to 5G just based on the advantage of fast network speed. What's more, as the number of users increases, the 5G network has begun to slow down.