China Radio and Television faces three major challenges on its 5G journey

Since the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued 5G commercial licenses to China Radio and Television, China Telecom, China Unicom, and China Mobile in June 2019, the pace of China's 5G construction has further accelerated. The 5G construction initiatives of the three major operators and China Radio and Television have attracted widespread attention from all walks of life, especially China Radio and Television, as a newcomer in 5G network construction, has attracted much attention in every step of its 5G commercialization. So since China Radio and Television obtained the license, what progress has it made in 5G construction, what difficulties and challenges have it encountered in the construction process, and what improvements and measures will it take in the future?

[[312344]]

In June 2019, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology officially issued 5G commercial licenses to China Telecom, China Mobile, China Unicom and China Broadcasting Corporation. China Broadcasting Corporation became the fourth 5G basic telecommunications operator in my country after the three major operators.

The "Implementation Plan for the Construction of 5G Test Network" released by China Radio and Television in September 2019 proposed to complete the construction of networks in 40 large and medium-sized cities in the first half of 2020, and complete the construction of networks in 334 prefecture-level cities in the second half of the year.

In December 2019, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the 192 public mobile communication network number to China Radio and Television, and the 192 number became the 5G number of China Radio and Television.

On January 3, 2020, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced that it had issued a 4.9GHz band 5G trial frequency use license to China Radio and Television, agreeing to China Radio and Television to deploy 5G networks in 16 cities including Beijing.

On January 6, the State Administration of Radio and Television issued the "Guiding Opinions on Strengthening the Construction of Radio and Television Public Service System" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions") and released it to the public. As 5G commercialization continues to accelerate, the "Opinions" proposes: adhere to mobile priority, promote the integration of cable TV networks and the development of radio and television 5G, accelerate the construction of a new national information infrastructure network that integrates smart radio and television, mobile communications, and the Internet of Everything, promote the digitization, high definition, networking, intelligence, and mobility of public services, and promote the transformation from household access to everyone, mobile access, and terminal access.

Accelerate the construction of 5G networks for radio and television, enable the transformation and upgrading of public services, and promote the coordinated development of wired and wireless, broadcast communications, large and small screens. Relying on the intelligent monitoring and supervision platform for radio, television and online audio-visual, achieve precise management of wired, wireless, live satellite transmission coverage, equipment use and user services, and improve the level of intelligent management of public services.

The time point for relevant tasks determined in this "Opinion" is 2025. Therefore, the new time points for related projects such as "national one network integration", radio and television 5G construction achievements, wired and wireless integration, and IPTV public services have been determined again.

China's radio and television 5G construction still has shortcomings

Although China Radio and Television has high-quality frequency bands, it still faces many challenges in 5G construction and operation. These challenges include funding and technical issues, as well as the management system of the radio and television system.

Data shows that my country has long adopted the development policy of managing radio and television at the central, provincial, municipal and county levels. Under the relatively loose management system, on the one hand, my country's radio and television industry has developed rapidly, and listed radio and television companies such as Jiangsu Cable have emerged; on the other hand, cable television networks in various places have also shown a "separatist" trend of fragmentation and mountaintops. In 2014, in order to solve the "separatist" problem and promote the "three-network integration", the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television established China Radio and Television. However, to this day, due to various factors, the integration of the national radio and television network has not been completely completed.

In addition to the integration problem within the radio and television system, China Radio and Television has the problem of high construction costs in the process of 5G layout. At present, China Radio and Television's 5G base station construction is still in its infancy. Some analysts believe that if China Radio and Television operates its own 5G business, it will need to build at least 200,000 base stations, and the capital investment will be as high as 60 billion yuan. In addition, in terms of technology and experience, China Radio and Television had never been involved in mobile communications business before obtaining the 5G license, and had never built base stations, so it lacked certain technical experience.

Make up for the shortcomings and build 5G based on the demand breakthrough

Finding excellent “partners”

Industry insiders believe that in order to quickly deploy 5G, China Radio and Television urgently needs to find a strong partner. At present, China Radio and Television has not made a clear statement on the two "rumored" targets of the industry's most concern - China Mobile and State Grid, but Zhao Jingchun, chairman of China Radio and Television, said, "China Radio and Television is determined to implement the 5G co-construction and sharing deployment strategy and establish a broad circle of friends."

Create differentiated advantages

As a new force, whether China Radio and Television can become the fourth largest operator in name and reality, and its 5G roadmap has attracted much attention. How China Radio and Television can build 5G networks and develop 5G services based on its own characteristics highlights differentiation as the key. Wang Haitian, a senior figure in the radio and television industry, said that the number segment given to China Radio and Television cannot be simply understood as a telephone number in the traditional sense, but also an identification number for objects. Within China Radio and Television, 5G has redefined the application direction, namely high-tech video services, that is, "high-format, new concept" video services. With the advent of the 5G era, it may inspire a wave of content and application revolutions. Some industry experts said that the 5G competitive advantage of radio and television lies in the Internet of Things.

Form a "national network" as soon as possible

The 700MHz prime frequency band is the trump card for China Radio and Television to develop 5G, but it is currently facing a "fragmented" situation across the country, which may affect the commercialization of 5G. According to the "5G Test Network Construction Implementation Plan" released by China Radio and Television in September 2019, the network construction of 40 large and medium-sized cities will be completed in the first half of 2020, and the network construction of 334 prefecture-level cities will be completed in the second half of the year. The integration of the national radio and television network has become a top priority.