5G plans of the three major operators in 2020

So far, the three major operators have released their 2019 annual financial reports and disclosed their 2020 5G investment plans, which are summarized as follows.

China Mobile

In 2019, China Mobile's total capital expenditure was 165.9 billion yuan, of which 24 billion yuan was invested in 5G-related projects, more than 50,000 5G base stations were built and put into operation, and 5G commercial services were provided in 50 cities.

In the past year, China Mobile has achieved the extension of "5G+X" applications and comprehensively promoted the "5G+" plan through the coordinated development of "5G+4G", integrated innovation of "5G+AICDE", and co-construction of the "5G+Eco" ecosystem. It has aggregated more than 1,900 partners, achieved breakthroughs in more than 100 5G joint innovation projects, and implemented 50 group-level 5G vertical applications, achieving a good start in integrating 5G+ into various industries and serving the public.

In 2020, China Mobile's planned total capital expenditure is 179.8 billion yuan, of which 5G-related investment is planned to be approximately 100 billion yuan.

In terms of 5G network construction, China Mobile will build 250,000 new 5G base stations to achieve large-scale commercial use in cities at the prefecture level and above, and effectively meet the To C and To B market needs by strengthening 4/5G collaboration and enhancing evolution to SA.

China Mobile said that in 2020, it will accelerate the maturity of SA, adhere to the integrated development of cloud and network, and build strategic infrastructure such as mobile cloud, network cloud, and IT cloud. It will also comprehensively accelerate the 5G+ upgrade from five dimensions: network upgrade, technology upgrade, application upgrade, ecosystem upgrade, and operation upgrade. It will build 5G core competitiveness by actively promoting 5G network construction, promoting the maturity of 5G end-to-end industry, promoting 5G+AICDE integrated innovative applications, jointly expanding the 5G "circle of friends", and building a new 5G business model.

China Telecom

As of the end of 2019, China Telecom has invested 9.3 billion yuan in 5G, built 40,000 5G base stations, and shared more than 20,000 5G base stations with China Unicom. The total number of 5G base stations in use exceeds 60,000, covering key areas of more than 50 commercial cities.

In 2020, China Telecom plans to have a capital expenditure of 85 billion yuan, of which about 45.3 billion yuan will be invested in 5G. It will jointly build about 250,000 5G base stations with China Unicom, covering all cities at the prefecture level and above in the country.

China Telecom's 5G network deployment targets SA architecture and maximizes the value of 5G technology through the integration of 5G+public cloud+MEC.

China Telecom said that it is in an industry-leading position in 5G SA deployment. It has taken the lead in realizing interconnection between multiple vendors on the 5G SA core network, realized 5G/4G interconnection, and supported network slicing. It is the world's first operator with 5G SA commercial capabilities.

China Unicom

In 2019, China Unicom's 5G capital expenditure was approximately 7.9 billion yuan, and it has opened 50,000 shared 5G base stations with China Telecom.

China Unicom said that 5G co-construction and sharing saves investment costs of approximately RMB 10 billion, which can save a large amount of capital expenditures, tower usage fees, network maintenance costs and electricity bills. It will also help accelerate the pace of 5G construction, expand 5G coverage, and double 5G speed and capacity.

According to the 5G spectrum division, China Unicom and China Telecom share continuous spectrum resources with a total bandwidth of 300MHz at 3.3-3.6GHz. This 300MHz bandwidth is mainly used for urban coverage. Among them, the maximum bandwidth shared outdoors is 200MHz (3.4-3.6GHz), and the maximum bandwidth shared indoors is 300MHz (3.3-3.6GHz).

At the same time, China Unicom and China Telecom have a total of 90MHz of continuous spectrum resources in the 2.1GHz band. The two parties will share this spectrum resource for wide coverage.

By sharing these spectrum resources, the two operators can achieve the world's fastest 5G rate of 2.7Gbps in the mid- and low-frequency bands, achieving both 5G capacity and coverage.

In 2020, China Unicom's capital expenditure budget is approximately RMB 70 billion, of which 5G capital expenditure is approximately RMB 35 billion, including 5G access network equipment, core network, transmission support, business platform, billing transformation, etc. It is expected to jointly build and share more than 250,000 5G base stations with China Telecom, covering all cities and counties across the country.

China Unicom will start the evolution and upgrade of its 5G network to SA in 2020, and plans to put it into commercial use by the middle of the year, while promoting high-level synergy among "cloud, network, edge and industry".

In addition to jointly building and sharing 5G base stations with China Telecom on the 3.3-3.6GHz frequency band, China Unicom also plans to upgrade 4G base stations to 5G base stations through software on the 2.1GHz frequency band, and combine 3G/4G/5G functions through SDR.

In terms of 4G construction, China Unicom will improve the LTE 900 underlying network in 2020 and, in principle, stop the construction of other 4G and non-production-related projects. It will also promote the reduction of 2/3G frequencies and network withdrawal in different regions to reduce network operation costs and re-cultivate spectrum resources.