China Unicom will gradually withdraw 2G network users and allow them to change their cards for free

2G will become history, users can change cards for free

On April 13, China Unicom confirmed that in order to allow users to fully enjoy the consumption dividends brought by network upgrades, China Unicom is comprehensively promoting the consumption upgrade of 2G customers to 4G networks. In the future, China Unicom will resolutely implement the national "speed increase and fee reduction" work deployment and continue to provide high-quality communication services to customers as always.

Relevant data shows that there are still 290 million 2G users in my country. So, what should these 2G network mobile phone users do? According to several China Unicom business offices and the "10010" hotline customer service, the specific time limit for the withdrawal of 2G network has not yet been determined. 2G users can go to China Unicom business offices to enjoy a variety of preferential measures such as free replacement of mobile phone cards, free trial traffic, and preferential purchase of mobile phones. China Unicom will assist existing 2G customers to upgrade to 4G network. The "10010" hotline customer service said that most of the users who are still using 2G network are elderly users. They basically have feature phones, and their main purpose is to make calls. However, since most mobile phone users have successfully accepted 4G and 3G, the withdrawal of 2G network will not have much impact on the experience of mobile phone users.

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When reviewing China Unicom's 2017 operating performance, it was found that China Unicom's 4G users increased by 70.33 million in 2017, reaching a total of 174.88 million, and the market share of 4G users increased by 3.7 percentage points year-on-year; 4G users accounted for 61.5% of mobile bill users, an increase of 21.9 percentage points year-on-year. In addition, in 2017, China Unicom added 110,000 4G base stations, and the total number of 4G base stations reached 850,000. From the distribution of user groups, 4G has already taken a dominant position, and 2G is becoming less and less.

However, the 2G network withdrawal cannot be completed overnight. As of the end of 2017, my country still had 290 million 2G users, 1.57 million 2G base stations, and a large number of IoT devices that rely on 2G networks. "The withdrawal of 2G networks is not only a technical issue, but also a livelihood issue. It cannot be a one-size-fits-all approach. It needs to be coordinated and implemented step by step," said an industry insider.

5G is an inevitable trend and China has become a leader

From an international perspective, the withdrawal of 2G network services is an inevitable trend, and operators in many countries have shut down their 2G networks. In January last year, operators such as AT&T in the United States, Bell and Telus in Canada successively shut down their 2G networks. In April, three Singapore operators, M1, Singtel and StarHub, and Optus, the second largest telecommunications operator in Australia, also shut down their 2G networks. In July, another Canadian operator, SaskTel, announced the closure of its 2G network. In September, Vodafone, an Australian mobile phone operator, also cleared out its 2G network.

Communication network is a basic industry for national development. 4G mobile communication network has been fully popularized, and the deployment of 5G network is getting closer. "5G network" is the fifth generation of mobile communication network, and its peak theoretical transmission speed can reach tens of GB per second, which is hundreds of times faster than the transmission speed of 4G network. It only takes 1 second to download a high-definition movie. Last month, Wang Xiaochu, chairman of China Unicom, revealed at the 2017 annual performance communication meeting held in Hong Kong that this year Unicom will conduct 5G pilots in 12 provinces and cities and conduct off-site trials.

In order to seize the future market, many countries around the world are competing to develop 5G network technology. At present, my country's deployment of 5G networks has reached the highest level. China Unicom, China Mobile and China Telecom, the three major operators, have clearly defined the timetable for 5G development and have carried out 5G network trials in relevant cities.

The "Information and Communication Industry Development Plan (2016-2020)" previously released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology clearly stated that 5G commercial services will be launched by the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan. Qualcomm's report predicts that by 2035, 5G will create $12.3 trillion in economic spending worldwide. The industry generally believes that once 5G networks are put into commercial use, they will drive multiple trillion-level emerging industries.