Don’t be pessimistic: 5G has started quickly, but the power has just begun to show

China’s 5G licenses have only been issued for a year, and it has only been in commercial use for half a year. However, the number of base stations built by the three operators has exceeded 400,000, and the number will reach 800,000 per year. A few days ago, China Mobile announced that it has completed the annual 5G base station construction task, and will exceed the target for the next six months.

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In 2020, 5G phones have accounted for a considerable proportion of mobile phones purchased by Chinese people, and 5G is the main motivation for users to change their phones. However, the most regrettable thing now is that we do not have exclusive killer 5G applications yet.

In the view of some people, since 5G-specific applications have not yet appeared and 4G networks are still capable of handling the task, the construction of 5G networks should be slowed down, or at least the pace should be slowed down to wait for the popularization of terminals and the development of applications. From the perspective of the actual interests of operators, and even from the perspective of some terminal manufacturers or application developers who cannot keep up with the pace of 5G, it is reasonable to slow down the construction of 5G networks. However, the slow construction of networks will definitely suppress the progress of terminals and applications, and will further reduce the speed of 5G network construction, thus forming a vicious circle. At that time, 5G will become a distant prospect.

Since the network construction is so fast, the social application of 5G will surely be accelerated. In the information industry, the network is always the foundation of everything. Only with the network can the sale of terminals become valuable, and only when the terminals and the network exceed the critical value of scale can the corresponding applications really be born and affect society.

According to current data, the number of operators' 5G package users has exceeded 100 million, and the number of smartphones connected to 5G networks has exceeded 66 million. A large-scale 5G scenario is about to be completed. We have reason to believe that good applications of 5G that change society are coming on the scene. According to historical experience models, 13% is a node for an emerging network to achieve qualitative transformation. There are currently about 1.6 billion mobile phone users in China. Therefore, the moment when the number of 5G users reaches 200 million is likely to be the time when 5G explodes.

In the 3G era, many people thought that network construction was meaningless and that it would be better to do a good job of GPRS. However, soon after the 3G network and mobile phones started, Weibo changed the way of social media, Taobao began to allow mobile shopping, and WeChat began to get a ticket to mobile Internet. In the early days of 4G, China Mobile rushed to build a 4G network, which soon made people feel the travel revolution brought by mobile navigation. Mobile Alipay, Didi, and Douyin have all changed our lifestyles.

We believe that 5G has faster network speeds, lower network latency, and broader IoT support. It is also safer and more energy-efficient. Any single feature will bring about a qualitative change, let alone three or more features appearing at the same time? 5G can make many things that can be done and are starting to be done in the 4G era easier to do, and it will definitely give birth to business applications that 4G cannot support.

In simple terms, in the 4G era, we can already do live shopping, work remotely, and learn online, and we can also make achievements in industrial interconnection. With the support of 5G, live shopping will become more colorful, and the difference from TV shopping in history will become increasingly greater, making business presentations more efficient and valuable, and changing the entire business logic. With 5G, remote work and learning will have VR/3D and more artificial intelligence. It is no longer a simple online video, but a "personal presence". As for industrial interconnection, it is obvious that only 5G can bring magic.

Even though the current 5G network has just been built, the layout is not perfect, and the signal coverage is not comprehensive, it has already demonstrated considerable value. With the help of 5G technology, remote consultations and surgeries have helped to control the epidemic more quickly, security checks in coal mines have become safer, and video conferences are also smooth and unimpeded in mobile scenarios. We are even more looking forward to the fact that after 5G becomes more popular, the epidemic prevention health code will hopefully make up for all shortcomings, not only become an anti-epidemic artifact, but also create a 5G application legend.