China Mobile 4G rush

Yesterday, China Mobile opened 4G mobile phones in Beijing. Although the package plan has not been announced at the same time, as the most important part of 4G industrialization, the accelerated maturity of terminal products means that 4G life is really within reach.

From the information that Tencent Technology understands, the current mobile 4G is ready to go and is only subject to license issuance. According to the latest news, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will release 4G licenses in mid-December.

Thousand yuan 4G terminal detonated next year Tencent technology learned from China Mobile, the first 4G mobile phones launched include Samsung N7108D, Sony M35t and other models, users can choose the contract in 10 business offices or buy bare metal. Take the Samsung N7108D (Note II's TD-LTE version) as an example, the bare metal is priced at 4,999 yuan, and a two-year, monthly contract of 328 yuan is selected, which can be purchased at zero yuan.

The exclusive 4G tariff package that users care about has not yet been launched. Currently only bookings are provided.

The sale of 4G mobile phones has enabled China Mobile to seize the initiative of the three major telecom operators in China. After experiencing the painful 3G lesson, China Mobile has been waiting for a comeback in the 4G era. The terminal may be the best entry point.

According to China Mobile's terminal development plan, 3G terminals will continue to dominate in 2013. In 2014, 3G and 4G terminals will be promoted simultaneously. In 2015, it will push 4G terminals in full force and achieve full coverage of high, medium and low-end products.

Surprisingly, with the concerted efforts of chip vendors, terminal manufacturers, and operators, the process of price popularization of 4G terminals may accelerate. Tang Jianfeng, deputy general manager of China Mobile’s mobile terminal, previously disclosed that China Mobile will launch a thousand-yuan TD-LTE mobile phone in 2014, which is undoubtedly good news for users.

Recalling the era of 3G, the rapid spread of thousands of smart phones has also enabled the rapid growth of 3G users in China. As of July this year, the total number of domestic 3G subscribers has exceeded 340 million, of which China Mobile's 3G subscribers have reached 147 million.

At present, MediaTek has already begun trial production of large-scale 4G chips. It is expected that 4G mobile chips will be officially launched in the fourth quarter of this year or the first quarter of next year.

According to MediaTek's consistent price-performance ratio, 4G handsets using the company's chip platform will soon enter the Qianyuan era.

Ye Weimin, senior vice president of ZTE Corporation, revealed to Tencent that ZTE’s first 4G mobile phone, Memo LTE, will be launched first, followed by China Unicom and Telecom. Ye Weimin said that the price of this 4G mobile phone will be controlled in the range of 1000-2000 yuan.

Wang Weijun, president of Huawei Terminal China, told Tencent Technology that "in the third quarter of next year, Huawei will launch a thousand-yuan smart phone that supports 4G networks and promote the popularization of 4G mobile phone prices."

Other domestic mobile phone manufacturers are unwilling to postpone. Lenovo, Hisense, Coolpad, Tianyu and other companies all stated that with the arrival of the 4G terminal blowout period next year, the 1,000-dollar product will be the dominant strategy.

It is understood that China Mobile is testing more than 10 models of 4G mobile phones and 50 data terminals. Apple's latest iPhone 5s/5s release will not be accidentally introduced by China Mobile in the 4G era.

The tariff threshold is not 3G. The China Mobile will open 4G handsets in Beijing and provide 3G packages. This is mainly due to the fact that the country has not issued 4G licenses yet. At present, operators cannot yet introduce 4G service packages. However, Tencent Technology has obtained some news from China Mobile, and the 4G package has basically been completed. As long as the 4G licensing business, you can launch at the same time.

So, what exactly is the 4G tariff that users care about?

Let's look at the 4G speed. Compared with 3G, the 4G era network speed will be greatly improved. The current theoretical download speed of 4G mobile phones exceeds 100Mbps, which is more than 10 times that of mainstream 3G networks. And the use of delay is less than 0.05 seconds, only 1/4 of 3G.

Tencent's actual measurement results in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and Hangzhou show that the average downlink speed of TD-LTE 4G network is about 31Mbps, and the average uplink speed is about 10Mbps. This means downloading a 2GB HD movie takes only a few minutes.

Due to the advanced nature of TD-LTE technology, the 4G network bearer capacity has been greatly improved. And while providing higher capacity, it does not significantly increase the cost of network construction for operators. It is expected that the tariff policies of operators in the 4G era will be more flexible, and consumers will not spend more on 4G than 3G.

From the current launch of trial commercial packages in Guangdong, Qingdao and other places, China Mobile's 4G package overall price is good, there are a total of two files: Monthly 138 yuan package contains 600M, can be used in any 2G, 3G or 4G network data traffic , And 500 minutes of talk time; monthly $ 238 package contains 1G data traffic and 1000 minutes of talk time.

In addition to the package, China Mobile has also developed a separate 4G Internet traffic package, which provides 600M data traffic for 50 yuan per month.

China Mobile GSM 3G monthly package of 158 yuan, data traffic is only 30M and 900 minutes of voice calls. China Unicom's monthly 158 yuan 3G package also contains only 500M data traffic and 420 minutes of talk time.

From the above information, it can be seen that China Mobile hopes to adapt to the 4G business model of traffic-based and voice-assisted by increasing the package data flow. However, taking into account more application innovation brought about by the high speed of the 4G era, monthly traffic of about 600M may not be sufficient. How to find a balance between traffic and price is a major consideration in the design of China Mobile 4G packages.

Some industry insiders suggested that in the early period of 4G, China Mobile's tariffs should adopt multi-angle marketing strategies, so that users are really willing to experience 4G as the key. In the later period, while enriching the number of packages, it is possible to strengthen cooperation with Internet companies and launch exclusive packages for personalized and customized services.

Coverage is the biggest issue. Domestic 4G licenses will be issued soon. The industry is full of expectations for this huge market, which may be as high as trillions of yuan.

Even from the point of view of investment and construction alone, the driving force of 4G on the Chinese economy is unquestionable. Once it is officially commercialized, its upstream and downstream industry chains will surely become investment hot spots in the capital market.

According to predictions from authoritative departments and agencies such as the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the scale of investment driven by the early construction of 4G networks is about 500 billion yuan. After the network is officially commercialized, it will also drive upstream and downstream industries such as terminal manufacturing and software, and the industrial scale is expected to exceed one trillion yuan. turn off. After the launch of 4G, the Chinese information consumer market will set off an unprecedented boom.

However, behind the great picture, the development of 4G has also exposed some urgent problems.

Miao Miao, Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology once said: "4G is a trend in the development of the telecommunications industry, but there are still some problems in the process of advancing. Base station construction and terminal product development are the biggest short boards that restrict domestic 4G development."

At present, with the maturity of the chip industry chain, the terminal is no longer the problem. However, the base station construction, that is, the problem of 4G signal coverage, is not optimistic right now.

China Mobile has started the construction of 200,000 TD-LTE base stations nationwide this year. By the end of the year, it will achieve 4G continuous coverage in the main cities of 100 key cities. It is now only one month from the end of the year. What about actual coverage?

According to Tencent Technology's field tests in multiple cities, more than a dozen cities that earlier participated in the 4G scale experiment have basically achieved target coverage. However, the follow-up start of the construction of the base station, the current coverage is not ideal.

Taking the capital Beijing as an example, the current 4G network has not yet achieved citywide coverage, and it has only reached the East, West and North 3rd Ring Road, south to Guangzhou-Guangzhou Road, and Qinghua, Peking University, International Trade, CBD and Park Expo Park. And the above coverage is limited to outdoor, indoor signal performance is very unstable. In more remote areas, the signal is automatically converted to 3G or 2G. Similar situations are also true in other cities.

Some related parties disclosed to Tencent Technology that “the coverage target required by China Mobile is unlikely to be achieved by the end of the year. From the end of June to the end of the bidding in September, it has been used for two months and the remaining 3 months have been built for 200,000. Base stations, covering 100 cities, are difficult to implement even with F-band base station upgrades and co-location."

According to information previously disclosed by China Mobile, 41.7 billion yuan will be invested this year for the construction of 200,000 4G base stations; the purchase of TD-LTE terminals will exceed 1 million, and the subsidies for TD terminals will exceed 30 billion yuan. The above-mentioned investment of over 700 billion yuan is just the prelude to the launch of China Mobile's 4G network construction.

It is inferred that the 4G network construction and subsequent investment will rely heavily on funds. Once the network is not in place, it will directly affect the user experience. The 4G era that China Mobile expects to stand up will also be impossible to talk about.

With huge investment, China Mobile must consider the issue of profitability. This is also the main reason for its high profile and acceleration of 4G.

Once the 4G signal coverage is incomplete, even if the license is issued and the terminal is rich, it is difficult for users to pay for it. For China Mobile, the most urgent and immediate problems to solve are coverage, coverage, and re-coverage.