China Telecom will start 5G independent networking next year, earlier than China Mobile and support 2,000 yuan mobile phones

[At the Tianyi Exhibition, China Telecom once again clarified the direction of SA's 5G network construction and reached an agreement with upstream and downstream industry partners to purchase 40 million terminals.]

"China has entered the first year of 5G commercialization. In the early stage of 5G construction, China Telecom will build high-quality SA/NSA hybrid networks in more than 40 cities across the country. At the same time, China Telecom will grasp the essence and core of 5G, adhere to the SA (independent networking) target network direction, and strive to be the first to fully launch 5GSA network upgrades in 2020." At the Tianyi Smart Ecosystem Expo held in Guangzhou recently, China Telecom Chairman Ke Ruiwen said that China Telecom has worked with Huawei to conduct active tests in the core network, base stations, and terminals of 5GSA, and has achieved certain results.

On September 20, Miao Wei, Minister of Industry and Information Technology, said at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office that mobile phones can only reflect 5G performance by relying on independently built 5G networks (SA), rather than non-independent networking products (NSA) based on 4G core networks. It is expected that my country will officially invest in the construction of independently built 5G networks on a large scale next year.

"Taking into account the low latency and high reliability characteristics of 5G, network slicing must be completed based on the SA network architecture, so we hope that the target network SA will be deployed as soon as possible." A person from a domestic equipment manufacturer told reporters that the advantage of 5G independent networking is that it can form greater economies of scale while providing high performance, and avoid the complex interoperability problems that may arise during the integration process with the LTE network. However, in the early commercialization stage, the cost of independent networking is relatively high.

5G independent networking speeds up

Different from 2G/3G/4G, in order to quickly promote the deployment of 5G, the industry has defined two networking methods. Among them, NSA is a transitional solution that relies on 4G base stations and core networks, while SA's core network is a new network architecture that can give full play to the capabilities of 5G, but the investment is larger and the network construction takes longer.

Judging from the current statements of operators, even if the cost is higher, there is a consensus on the rapid promotion of SA.

At the Tianyi Expo, China Telecom once again clarified the SA 5G network construction direction and reached an agreement with upstream and downstream industry partners to purchase 40 million terminals. Ke Ruiwen said that GSMA (Global System for Mobile Communications Association) officially announced that China Telecom will lead the global 5G industry to jointly formulate the "5GSA Deployment Guide". In this process, China Telecom adheres to the 5GSA direction.

In addition to China Telecom, China Unicom has also previously stated that it will build a 5G network based on the 5G independent networking (SA) standard. China Mobile recently stated that 5G independent networking will be commercially available in the third quarter of this year, while not abandoning the 4G network.

In terms of 5G network cooperation with China Unicom, Ke Ruiwen said that the two sides have reached a consensus on 5G access network and transmission network, and China Telecom can use the money saved to innovate 5G technology and services in order to provide differentiated services to customers. Previously, China Unicom and China Telecom announced a 5G network cooperation agreement. The two sides will cooperate to build a 5G access network nationwide and adopt a shared access network.

In terms of 5G application implementation, China Telecom Guangdong Branch jointly launched the "5G plus cloud" product with Huawei at the above conference. According to the 5G commercial roadmap, China Telecom will launch 5G services in more than 40 cities and seek implementation points in cloud services such as cloud dedicated lines, education zones, and financial zones.

Taking "Family Cloud" as an example, the product manager of Family Cloud told reporters in the conference demonstration hall that the characteristic of Family Cloud is that the cloud can synchronize files, photos and videos on mobile phones, computers and TVs, and then display them on multiple screens in the most suitable form. Through the Family Cloud group space, family members can form a shared cloud storage space. Photos, videos and files uploaded by family members can be intelligently classified through the Family Cloud album, and quickly sorted by time, place and person, so that family members can view and browse them on mobile phones and large TV screens in real time.

5G mobile phone "NSA confusion"

China Mobile has said that it will support the launch of mobile phones priced below 2,000 yuan in the second half of next year, while China Telecom has brought forward the schedule again.

In terms of market operation strategy, Lu Liangjun, deputy general manager of China Telecom's marketing department, recently stated that they will cooperate with key manufacturers to launch 5G mobile phones priced under 2,000 yuan in the first half of 2020.

China Telecom predicts that there will be a large-scale replacement of 5G mobile phones in mid-2020, and the price of 5G mobile phones will drop rapidly; in the first half of 2020, 5G mobile phones will be popularized to the price segment below 3,000 yuan, and will cover the price segment below 2,000 yuan by the end of 2020. 5G mobile phones will be cheaper, and more users will be able to afford and use them.

Lu Liangjun said that by 2020, the number of 5G mobile phones in China will reach 170 million, and China Telecom will account for 60 million.

But it can also be seen that although the price of 5G is becoming more affordable, the noise surrounding "real and fake 5G mobile phones" has not diminished.

In the middle of this year, Huawei Consumer Business CEO Richard Yu forwarded an article titled "Mutation of domestic 5G market: Qualcomm products may collectively fail, Huawei becomes a true 5G phone" on WeChat Moments, saying: "Come on, domestic peers! I hope everyone can provide true 5G phones! NSA will soon be eliminated, SA is the real 5G."

Recently, Honor President Zhao Ming said on Weibo: "China Telecom has made it clear that SA is the 5G network strategy. Honor V30 supports NSA and SA modes. It is a 5G mobile phone that can be used nationwide and globally in the future."

From the market perspective, among the 5G mobile phones currently on the market, only Huawei and Honor are compatible with NSA and SA.

However, the head of a chip manufacturer told reporters that based on the actual market situation, NSA-networked mobile phones will be able to be used for a long time.

"This is like the switch from National V to National VI. NSA and SA will coexist in large quantities for a long time." The above-mentioned person in charge told reporters that new products equipped with the NSA/SA dual-mode Snapdragon X55 baseband will be officially launched early next year.

"From the user's perspective, there is no such thing as real or fake mobile phones. At present, most Android mobile phone manufacturers adopt the NSA networking standard. The 5G mobile phones released this year can of course continue to be used next year, just like the 4G mobile phones released this year can continue to be used." An industry insider close to Qualcomm told reporters.

A person from a device manufacturer told the reporter that NSA will be maintained for a certain period of time. "During this period, NSA and SA will coexist. In the end, we definitely hope that all users will switch to SA. It does not mean that NSA cannot access the network, but that the users developed after next year will support SA. In fact, mobile phones that support SA must support NSA. The two are not mutually exclusive."