The first batch of 5G users appeared in a hurry.
Editor’s note: This article is from WeChat public account “Economic Observing Network” (ID: Eeojjgcw), author Shen Yiran, authorized to reprint.
Although there are no data on the first batch of 5G users, who are they, where they are, and what to do with 5G phones. However, under the intertwining of political and market factors, this batch of 5G users has emerged in a hurry.
At 10:08 am on November 1, Zhao Hanqing placed a 5G mobile phone in the first minute of the launch of Huawei Mate30 Pro 5G. On the first day of China’s 5G commercialization, he became the first batch of 5G users in China. After two days of use, Zhao Hanqing found that his greatest pleasure lies in finding the sense of accomplishment of the 5G signal, just like his daily game of finding Beidou satellite.
Although there are no data on the first batch of 5G users, who are they, where, and what to do with 5G phones. However, under the intertwining of political and market factors, this batch of 5G users has emerged in a hurry.
As the 5G mobile phone in the hands of Zhao Hanqing, behind the combination of technology and standards and a huge ecosystem. In the case that the network, business model, and industrial chain have begun to take shape but have not yet been perfected, the 5G version is only a price difference of 600 yuan higher than the 4G version, and a 5G mobile phone is purchased, and then it is full of “why the signal is not good.” “5G is not only able to play speed measurement”, “the flow is expensive is not a little expensive” and other questions.
Different from the 3G and 4G periods, China’s 5G has risen to the level of national competition, investment, scientific and technological innovation, and industrial upgrading. At this time, as the core of the 5G industry chain, operators are accelerating the construction of the network to cope with international competition, mobile phone factories are seeking market dividends with aggressive marketing, and 5G base station equipment, construction parties, and large and small institutions and office buildings that undertake base stations. The community is working hard to solve the trivial problems of 5G landing, and these all affect the end user experience.
“5G mobile phone is really cheap”
Zhao Hanqing, after 90, living in Chaoyang, Beijing, likes to play aerial photography of drones all over the country. In the last two years, he changed his home from desk lamps, speakers to toothpaste equipment to smart, he said that he enjoyed A feeling of “one light for the next 10 bulbs to light up.”
At the end of October, he originally wanted to buy a Huawei Mate30 Pro phone, but when he browsed for China Mall, he found that the model had already been released in 5G, and it was only 600 yuan more than 4G.
After two consecutive years of decline in shipments, the mobile phone market needs 5G this wave of exchange bonus, November 1stThe country entered 5G commercial, and the 5G mobile phone is the first window where the outside world feels 5G. China’s 5G mobile phones have already produced more than a dozen models. Zhao Hanqing remembers that some experts predicted that the commercial price of 5G mobile phones would exceed 10,000 at the beginning of the year, but at the end of the year, the lowest price in the market has dropped to more than 3,000 yuan.
On his way to and from work every day, the “5G is coming” on both sides of the elevator entering the Baiziwan subway station, all the way forward, both sides are full of double eleven shopping posters. Zhao Hanqing considered whether to buy a 5G mobile phone in the promotion.
The Beijing where he is located is the leading area for the deployment of 5G by three operators. From the scope of China Mobile’s announcement, the Beijing Chaoyang District where his home and unit are located has completed 5G construction. According to the latest data, as of the end of October, Beijing has built a total of 13,499 5G base stations and opened 11,356 5G base stations, accounting for more than one-eighth of the country.
A few days later, Zhao Hanqing went to see the 5G package. He is a 14-year old user of China Mobile. The price of China Mobile is from 128/month to 598 yuan/month, and the in-suite traffic is from 30GB/month to 300GB/ Month, “Operators will make 30% off for old users in 6 months. If you book 128 yuan, it will be 10 yuan cheaper than 4G.”
These are all within his budget. On the morning of October 23, Zhao Hanqing placed a deposit on the Huawei Mate30 Pro5G version after the scheduled sale.
Huawei Mate30 Pro5G version price is 6899, only 600 yuan higher than 4G version, and Xie Yushan, senior research director of Trend Force, told the Economic Observer that the current model 5G is more expensive than 4G mobile phone. 20-30%, the behind factors involve communication modules and protocols.
Sun Yanxi, dean of the First Mobile Research Institute, believes that Huawei’s market performance in the second half of 2019 is particularly aggressive. The company is aggressively pursuing its domestic market with aggressive sales strategies to compensate for overseas losses.
After 4 months, this global company was interrupted by Google Inc. in the United States. In June of this year, Ren Zhengfei said that Huawei’s mobile phone shipments in the international market will drop by 40% this year, and the growth rate in the Chinese market is very fast.
“My 5G signal?”
Zhao Hanqing occasionally travels, but most of them live from home to the unit “two points and one line”. On the first day of getting the mobile phone, Zhao Hanqing went out of the house and the mobile phone had a 5G signal. He was very excited. Although the speed of the network did not reach the theoretical 1GBts, the speed of 500-800Mbps was 10 times higher than that of 4G.
But he fixed his eyes and the signal disappeared. Then he got on the bus from the Baiziwan bus stop and got off at Shuangjing. The mobile phone signal was always on and off.
Evenly, Zhao Hanqing is the first person to use 5G mobile phones. He can’t wait to share with his colleagues. But I didn’t expect to just step into the unit building, and the 5G signal is completelyDisappeared.
When Zhao Hanqing stood in the office window to find the signal, 10 km west of the West Second Ring Road, Li Liang (pseudonym) came to work at 8 am, he worked in China Mobile for more than a decade. The speed-issuing commercial license and the accompanying first batch of 5G users gave Li Liang and colleagues a sense of urgency.
On November 7, he told the Economic Observer, “We originally hoped to serve users with better technology and network, but in fact 5G came faster than expected, so the signal test coverage and preparation It is inevitable that there will be imperfections in the work.”
Xie Yushan, senior research director of Trend Force, pointed out that 5G network signal instability will affect the 5G mobile phone life, which is also affected by the operator base station density.
In June 2018, the International Mobile Telecommunications Standardization Organization (3GPP) officially approved the establishment of the 5G technical standard (5GNR) independent networking function, which is the first phase of the full version of the 5G standard. In June this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued 5G commercial licenses to four companies including China Mobile. Li Liang said that during the 4G period, there were three years of preparation between the two, including network adaptation and optimization, while 5G only had one year.
On October 31, a person from the SASAC told the Economic Observer that, objectively speaking, 5G pushed the speed and accelerated 5G, which is not the business behavior of the company, but the policy.
This person said that unlike 3G and 4G, the external environment during the 5G period is quite special. At this point in time, operators are more responsive to international competitive pressures. The sooner they are launched, the faster they can occupy the ecological chain. , occupy 5G’s right to speak faster.
Before China Mobile achieved commercialization, operators in more than a dozen countries have launched commercial networks, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and South Korea, but China Mobile is an operator with more than 900 million subscribers, facing the world. The largest piece of communication market, as of the first half of this year, China Mobile’s 4G base stations have 2.71 million. In theory, 5G base stations need to build 3 times more to reach 4G coverage.
In June this year, China Mobile set the first batch of 5G million base stations nationwide. Li Liang believes that the number of construction of the first batch of 50,000 is relatively large. Compared with 4G, the network deployment pace of operators is increasing from the number of thousands of base stations and 10,000 base stations in batches, so as to allow test time. Now, the Group’s overall investment in human resources, financial resources, and network resources is tilted toward 5G. Li Liang and his colleagues are also worried that the first batch of 5G users will have bad feedback.
“Why is there no 5G indoors?”
In the lunch break, Zhao Hanqing went out of the office building and walked to Hujialou, Guomao and Dawang Road. The 5G signal on the street was very stable. The speed reached 500Mbps, but it entered the banks, cafes, shopping malls and other places along the way. There is almost no 5G signal except for the partial window position.
How the 5G signal enters the room is also plaguing Gao Bo (a pseudonym).
Gao Bo is the project manager of a communications technology company in Beijing. He is the first person to do 5G base station business since the construction. He also undertakes the task of building a mobile communication base station for telecom operators and China Tower in Beijing, and discusses Beijing on the other. 5G network installation services of hospitals, universities, commercial office buildings and residential communities, and finally completed the construction of 5G base stations.
Orders are an important source of income for Gao Bo and colleagues. In May of this year, he began to seek commercial office and residential property resources in Beijing and negotiated 5G construction until the project was reported to operators in August.
“But about 100 items were reported, only 2 or 3 were approved.” The responses he received were often “temporarily not built” and “waiting for planning”. Compared with the initial stage of 4G construction, the project is often quickly approved by the other party.
These projects are almost indoor construction. Usually, the layout principle of operators in the city is that key hotspot areas are prioritized, from outdoor to indoor, in the order of coverage of indoor institutions, from transportation hubs such as airports and high-speed rail stations, to hospitals, schools, commercial office buildings, and residential quarters.
Liu Hong, Technical General Manager of Greater China, GSMA (Global System for Mobile Communications) told the Economic Observer that 5G indoor base stations are difficult to work in the original system, and various organizations are working hard to promote the upgrade of indoor systems. There are some new attempts in the technical solution, but large-scale deployment does take a little while.
In addition to technical factors, there are still trivial problems in construction for indoor coverage. Beijing Mobile once told the Economic Observer that in the process of 5G construction, some owners will set up various obstacles or directly refuse to add new 4G existing sites because of the misunderstanding of 5G. Some regard the 5G construction as an opportunity to “make money” and ask for high coordination fees.
The owners referred to here are generally the office buildings encountered by the office buildings or residents’ communities. Gao Bo said that the phenomenon of “coordination fee” and “entry fee” charged by the property has existed since 3G and 4G. He often encounters this situation: he wins the project from the operator, but because the property has to be too high, the two sides cannot Agree can not be reached.
But the property also has its own considerations. According to the reporter, the property of Zhao Hanqing’s community has already installed two 5G base stations for the community in early September this year.
On November 6th, its property staff said that during the 4G period, the micro base station built by the community, the normal price of each station coordination fee was between 160,000 and 180,000. In the 5G period, the construction team who asked me to talk only had a few bids. Million. The gap in coordination fees will put some pressure on property income.
“The traffic is a bit expensive”
“Playing” Zhao Hanqing, who has been measuring speed for two days, has not seen a high-definition movie, and found that the mobile phone has consumed 9GB of traffic, and his in-suite traffic is only 30GB.