Good news for 5G: the rate is no higher than 4G, and you don’t need to change your phone number when you change your phone

Large bandwidth, large connections, low latency and high reliability are the three most significant features of 5G compared to 4G. Among them, mobile phone network speed may increase by 10 times. In addition, 5G mobile phones are expected to drop to around 1,000 yuan in 2020.

After being ignited at the Mobile World Congress (MWC), 5G has become a hot topic among NPC deputies and CPPCC members during the two sessions.

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In addition to the 5G mobile phones that have made mobile phone manufacturers stand out, smart terminals, edge computing, and the 5G tariff issues that ordinary users are most concerned about have become challenges facing 2019, the "first year of 5G."

On March 5, Miao Wei, Minister of Industry and Information Technology, said that 5G licenses would be issued soon, and the average mobile network traffic charges would be reduced by more than 20% in 2019.

During this year's two sessions, China Unicom deployed 5G full-service in all areas of the Media Center, including the press conference hall, lecture hall, and domestic and foreign journalist work areas. When the reporter of "China Entrepreneur" walked into the Media Center, there were signs saying "China Unicom 5G has been covered" and "5G Experience Center", where media from all over the world can experience the gigabit 5G WiFi Internet speed.

At present, China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom have obtained the license to use the 5G medium and low frequency bands for trial use nationwide. On the evening of February 28, China Mobile Beijing Company announced that it plans to achieve full 5G signal coverage within the Fifth Ring Road by the end of 2019.

For ordinary users outside Beijing, 5G coverage is no longer far away.

Zhang Yunyong, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and president of China Unicom Research Institute, revealed to "China Entrepreneur" that 25 provinces, cities and districts are currently conducting 5G pilot projects, and some regions will launch them in the second half of 2019. By the time of next year's two sessions, 5G can be put into large-scale application.

Not only fast, but also very smart

During the Two Sessions, 5G brought a faster network experience. China Unicom also announced that it had successfully conducted tests on CCTV's VR and live broadcast services.

With the support of 5G network, CCTV conducted 5G+VR live broadcast in the "Minister's Channel" in the North Hall of the Great Hall of the People. The high-speed, low-latency network environment provided a higher-quality VR live broadcast experience.

In interviews with media such as "China Entrepreneur", Zhang Yunyong repeatedly emphasized that 4G is only a change in network bandwidth, while 5G is actually an industrial revolution that will even change society, create new business models, and bring some new employment opportunities.

Zhang Yunyong described the future 5G scenario to the media: In the early morning, the 5G router wakes you up, senses the number of times you toss and turn on the mattress, and senses your sleep quality; then, the 5G router connects to the coffee machine and automatically delivers you a cup of coffee; after you finish your coffee and breakfast, it automatically helps you make an appointment for a driverless car and plans a road with the least congestion; after arriving at the office, you use virtual reality technology to hold a remote meeting and feel as if you are there.

"5G is not only fast, but also very smart," said Zhang Yunyong.

In 2018, “developing industrial Internet platforms” appeared in the government work report; this year, “intelligence +” has become the keyword for the transformation and upgrading of China’s manufacturing industry, among which 5G’s enabling role is very important.

Li Dongsheng, deputy to the National People's Congress and chairman of TCL Group Co., Ltd., believes that 5G can improve people's Internet experience, and the future "explosion point" may be the receiving end. Li Dongsheng is very optimistic about the application areas and scenarios of 5G. He said that TCL will launch 5G products in domestic and foreign markets simultaneously by the end of this year.

Liu Duo, deputy to the National People's Congress and president of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, summarized the three major application scenarios of 5G: large bandwidth, large connections, and low latency and high reliability.

Liu Duo introduced that in addition to mobile phones, users can also connect household appliances such as water meters, electricity meters, gas, as well as machines and agricultural equipment to the Internet through sensors; in scenarios such as autonomous driving and telemedicine, 5G's low latency can achieve real-time transmission, for example, the reaction time difference in autonomous driving can be reduced to milliseconds.

"I think the first thing that 5G can bring to the people is the large bandwidth." Liu Duo said that in the large bandwidth scenario, the mobile Internet speed of mobile phones may increase by 10 times.

Mobile phone manufacturers are waiting for the "phone replacement wave"

At the end of February, at the MWC conference held in Barcelona, ​​Chinese mobile phone manufacturers such as Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, and vivo all launched 5G mobile phones; during the Two Sessions, these manufacturers also announced the release time of domestic 5G mobile phones.

Liu Duo said that mobile phone manufacturers were the first to release 5G mobile phones overseas because China has not yet issued temporary licenses, and China's 5G progress is not lagging behind overseas.

In 2018, mobile phone manufacturers had a hard time in the Chinese market. The market was saturated, technological breakthroughs were not amazing enough, and the replacement cycle of mobile phones was extended, which made many mobile phone manufacturers pin their hopes on 5G mobile phones.

According to a report by market research firm IDC, global smartphone shipments will continue to grow from 2019, and are expected to exceed 1.7 billion units by 2022. The driving force behind this is undoubtedly the launch of 5G phones. IDC predicts that by 2020, 5G phone shipments may account for 7% of total smartphone shipments, and by 2022, this figure may reach 18%.

"If 4G is compared to an ordinary road, then 5G is a wider and more three-dimensional highway." Zhang Yunyong said that it only takes 3 seconds for a 5G mobile phone to download a high-definition movie of about 1G.

However, mobile phone manufacturers' ambitions for 5G do not stop there.

Lei Jun, deputy to the National People's Congress, founder, chairman and CEO of Xiaomi Group, proposed at the two sessions that the four development directions of the Internet of Things are industry, agriculture, transportation and medical care, and that 5G industrial applications should be planned in advance.

Lei Jun said that 5G is a new engine of the digital economy. Its industrial applications are not limited to the fields of smartphones and base station construction, but will also promote the development of the Internet of Things, blockchain, video social networking, and artificial intelligence products and applications.

Guojin Securities (10.07 +3.49%, stock diagnosis) analyzed that the implementation of 5G in latency-sensitive scenarios focuses on application directions such as live broadcasting, cloud gaming, smart car networking and autonomous driving; mobile phone manufacturers such as OPPO and OnePlus have begun to get involved in the field of cloud gaming. Live broadcasting may be the most direct beneficiary of 5G. It is expected that the CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of the entire cloud gaming market will reach 47% in the next five years.

"Whether it is network equipment, chips or mobile phone terminals, China is currently at the forefront." Liu Duo said that 5G is a global industry. China has organized 5G technology trials since 2015. All mainstream manufacturers and some operators in the world have participated in it to jointly study and solve common key technical problems.

5G charges are lower than 4G

The “first year of 5G” has begun, but the industry is not optimistic about the full commercial use of 5G.

As early as September 2018, Wei Leping, executive deputy director of the Communications Science and Technology Commission of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, revealed at the "2018 China Chip Development Summit Forum" that the total 4G investment of China's three major operators was about 800 billion yuan.

On March 6, 2019, Zhang Yunyong said in an interview with reporters during the Two Sessions that 5G is used frequently, and the 5G site density is expected to be at least 1.5 times that of 4G, and the network investment will be about two or three times that of 4G, totaling more than 2 trillion yuan.

"4G has been deployed for five years, but the investment has not been fully recovered." Zhang Yunyong said frankly that operators face great financial pressure in promoting the construction of 5G networks. "The world is exploring a model to encourage some motivated private enterprises to co-build, share and operate through cooperation and profit sharing. I think this is one direction; the second direction is not to pursue all at once, but to first build applications with strong demand and develop step by step."

Generally speaking, it takes 2 to 3 years to achieve good coverage of the entire 5G network. However, based on the scale of China's network, if 5G wants to achieve the same coverage as 4G, it will require a longer period and greater capital investment.

At the same time, the price of 5G mobile phones may slow down the popularization of 5G terminals. In previous mobile communication network upgrades, mobile terminals lagged behind network upgrades, but in this upgrade from 4G to 5G, 5G mobile phones were released simultaneously. China Mobile has predicted that in the pre-commercial stage of 5G in 2019, the price of 5G mobile phones will be more than 8,000 yuan, and it will not drop to around 1,000 yuan until 2020, when 5G is put into large-scale commercial use.

For ordinary users, the most important issue is the mobile phone charges. Zhang Yunyong said that the 5G charges have not been determined yet, and the situation may become clearer in the second half of the year, but it will definitely not be more expensive than 4G. In addition, to enjoy 5G services, you must change to a 5G mobile phone, but you don’t have to change your SIM card and number.

"Now five provinces have completed the pilot program of number portability. We will replicate the experience of these five provinces and promote it nationwide." Zhang Yunyong said, "We will standardize the package settings, streamline the number of packages in accordance with the government work report and the requirements of enterprises, and present the technology and services in the packages to users in an easy-to-understand and concise manner."