How do Huawei, ZTE and the three major operators plan for 5G?

What is 5G? 5G is the fifth generation of mobile communication network. Compared with the previous four generations of application networks, 5G not only represents mobile communication network, but can also be applied to the Internet of Things. 5G has three major application scenarios: eMMB (enhanced Mobile BroadBand), mMTC (Massive Machine Type Communication) and uRLLC (Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Connection). Simply put, it increases bandwidth, increases the number of connections, increases transmission speed, and increases transmission reliability.

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Facing the upcoming 5G era, the upstream (including communication equipment such as base stations, antennas, optical cables, chips, and radio frequency devices), midstream (major telecom operators), and downstream (various terminal equipment manufacturers including mobile phone manufacturers) of the 5G industry chain are gearing up. China's communication equipment manufacturers represented by Huawei and ZTE, as well as the three major operators of China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom are vigorously deploying the 5G industry in their respective areas of expertise.

1. Two major communication equipment manufacturers

1. Huawei

As China's largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer, Huawei started 5G research in 2009 and launched the 5G

In 2016, Huawei's Polar Code solution became the final standard solution for 5G control channel eMBB scenario coding. In 2017, Huawei released the world's first 5G core network solution for 5G commercial scenarios. At the same time, Huawei plans to release its first 5G mobile phone in the second half of 2019, integrating Huawei's self-developed 5G chip based on 3GPP standards - Balong 5G01. Huawei is deploying 5G in multiple fields including 5G basic standards, solutions and downstream terminal products. Apart from the construction of base stations of intermediate operators, it involves almost the entire communications industry.

2. ZTE

According to data, compared with 4G, 5G does not have a truly revolutionary technology in principle. ZTE has rushed the fastest and gone the furthest in the transition from 4G to 5G. In 2014, ZTE first proposed the concept of Pre5G at the 5G World Summit, advocating the 4Gization of 5G technology. The most typical representative is the Massive MIMO (massive antenna) technology, which won two global technology awards in 2016.

In 2016, ZTE officially commercialized Pre5G Massive MIMO technology in Japan. In the same year, it launched the first FDD MM base station and conducted field tests. It can be said that ZTE has led the development of the entire MM. At the same time, ZTE released the overall 5G end-to-end solution in 2017. Compared with Huawei, ZTE is more willing to choose a certain direction to promote the commercial development of 5G.

2. Three major operators

Facing the construction of 5G base stations, the three major operators have both opportunities and challenges. The opportunity is that 5G networks are faster and connect more devices, and the commercial use of 5G can bring new revenue growth points to enterprises; the challenge is that the construction of 5G base stations has great investment pressure and high costs, and 4G base stations are still under construction and the costs have not been recovered. For some remote areas, the input-output ratio cannot be measured, and there is still some distance to fully realize 5G coverage. At present, the three major operators have three main tasks in the layout of 5G: clearing out 2G or 3G (because they occupy good spectrum resources), continuing to fully build and maintain 4G base stations, and building 5G base stations in some densely populated areas.

1. Mobile

Since China Mobile's 4G network has not yet completed the bearer of voice (the main function of 2G), shutting down the 2G network will affect users' normal calls. 3G is an upgrade of 2G and only increases the transmission speed. Shutting down 3G will not affect the call quality. In addition, China Mobile's 3G layout is not as good as China Unicom and China Telecom, so China Mobile may give priority to shutting down the 3G network. Currently, the 3G network has been shut down in some areas.

Before 4G can carry voice traffic for 2G, China Mobile may not shut down its 2G network first, but should first build 4G base stations that can carry 2G functions. Currently, China Mobile has the most 4G base stations among the three major operators. By the end of 2017, China Mobile had 1.87 million 4G base stations nationwide, covering 99% of the population. In 2018, China Mobile will continue to consolidate its existing network while vigorously promoting the development of 5G.

China Mobile plans to launch 5G scale trials in five cities, namely Hangzhou, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Suzhou and Wuhan, with more than 100 5G base stations deployed in each city. It will also deploy small-scale 5G application demonstrations in 12 cities, including Beijing, Tianjin, Shenzhen and Chongqing. By 2020, China Mobile will deploy more than 10,000 5G base stations.

2. China Unicom

Due to its disadvantage in 2G network deployment, China Unicom has planned to withdraw its 2G network instead of its 3G network in the face of the arrival of 5G and the country's requirement to clear out 2G or 3G high-quality spectrum. This is because China Unicom has the world's largest 3G network, and the functions of the 3G network can completely replace 2G. In the future, China Unicom may maintain its 3G network while developing 4G and 5G networks.

As of the end of 2017, China Unicom had 850,000 4G base stations, the least among the three. In 2018, it is expected to build 110,000 4G base stations, which is equivalent to the number of new base stations added in 2017. China Unicom is still in the stage of vigorously developing 4G networks, and has relatively little investment in 5G. It only plans to carry out 5G field tests in seven cities and regions including Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Nanjing, and Xiong'an this year.

3. Telecommunications

Unlike China Mobile's 3G network withdrawal and China Unicom's 2G network withdrawal, according to data, China Telecom plans to withdraw both 2G and 3G networks, retaining only 4G networks and developing 5G networks. In order to ensure the quality of voice calls, if the 4G network wants to fully carry the voice function, the 4G base station needs to have VOLTE mode. Currently, China Telecom is vigorously promoting the commercial use of VOLTE, with the main goal of fully replacing 2G and 3G network functions with 4G network functions.

By the end of 2017, China Telecom had 1.17 million 4G base stations, and it is expected to continue to build 200,000 4G base stations in 2018, while 5G base station construction has not yet been invested in large scale. However, China Telecom said that it will carry out 5G network-related tests for six cities and regions, namely Chengdu, Xiong'an, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Suzhou and Lanzhou, to promote the coordination of 4G and 5G networks, explore innovative models for mobile network evolution, and promote the implementation of 5G technology applications.

Conclusion

To realize the full application of 5G, companies in related industries need to work together. Huawei is formulating communication protocol standards and developing terminal products (mobile phones). ZTE is using large-scale antenna technology to achieve a single point breakthrough, and the three major operators are maintaining and upgrading 4G base stations on a large scale and building 5G base stations.

Since 2G and 3G occupy high-quality spectrum resources, operators are also clearing out corresponding 2G or 3G networks according to their own development. There is no comprehensive industry standard for the commercial use of 5G networks. At present, the International Mobile Communications Standardization Organization 3GPP is formulating 5G independent networking standards in Busan, South Korea. The formulation of standards can accelerate the commercial development of 5G, but the full commercialization of 5G will have to wait until the comprehensive 5G standards are released at the end of 2019. There is still a long way to go for the full application of 5G.

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