Analysis of the reasons for the slowdown of 4G network speed

Although 5G has only been implemented for a year, it is still a long way from the expected ten years to full maturity, but many consumers have reported that they feel that the 4G network speed has been significantly reduced after entering 5G, and feel that the network quality experience is significantly different from before. I don't know if this is your illusion or the luxury and simplicity after experiencing the 5G network speed is difficult to change, or is the real 4G network speed really not as good as before? The author tries to analyze it briefly from the investment structure of China Mobile.

According to relevant information, China Mobile's actual investment in the first half of 2020 was 101 billion yuan, of which 54.5% was used for mobile communications networks, about 55 billion yuan, and the annual estimated 5G-related investment increased from 100 billion yuan at the beginning of the year to 105 billion yuan.

Pay attention to the picture. Network construction is a system engineering project that is mutually complementary. The comprehensive development of mobile network is based on strong transmission network and business support network. China Mobile invested 101 billion yuan in the first half of this year, and more than half of it was invested in mobile network alone. Together with transmission network and support network, nearly 95% of the expenditure was on network.

The total investment is so large that increasing investment on one side will inevitably indicate reducing expenditure on the other side. Regarding the comparison of 5G and 4G figures, several figures from the communications authorities are very representative. It is reported that in June 2019, there were 4.45 million 4G base stations in my country, accounting for 60.8%; at the end of 2019, the total number of 4G base stations in my country reached 5.44 million, accounting for 64.7%; at the end of June 2020, the total number of 4G base stations was 5.6 million, accounting for 63.9%. In other words, the total number of 4G base stations is increasing, but the proportion has declined, and this growth rate is obviously not keeping up with the rapid growth of traffic. More importantly, my country currently has hundreds of millions of 5G package users, whose monthly traffic usage exceeds 4G users by more than 50%, but due to the small coverage area of ​​5G network, this part of the traffic will also be borne by the 4G network, which will inevitably increase the load of the 4G network.

That is to say, on the one hand, communication operators are investing less and less in 4G networks. On the other hand, with the increase in 5G users and the inadequate perfection of 5G networks, a large part of 5G traffic actually occupies the resources of 4G networks. If we add the high-traffic consumption concept in the current communication consumer market, especially the increasingly large installation packages of mobile phone APPs, the comprehensive rise of new applications such as short videos, high-definition film and television dramas, and live broadcasts, 4G network traffic applications are in a state of full-scale eruption, but the speed of network construction and optimization cannot keep up with the changes in demand, and investment efforts are squeezed out by 5G networks. Therefore, some consumers feel that the speed of 4G networks has slowed down. There are indeed certain subjective and objective reasons.