The Development Situation of 4G and Broadband Services in Telecommunications

"Last Friday (October 18th), China Telecom obtained a 4G experimental network license, which is actually an approval from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. It is no different from what China Mobile obtained. It only means that China Telecom can build a 4G network and cannot use it for commercial purposes."

A senior executive from China Telecom talked to the author about this so-called "4G license" approval document, appearing careless and downplaying. It's completely different from the high-level management of China Mobile. When it comes to 4G networks, 4G licenses, and the 4G era, there is excitement and victory in hand.

Telecom's focus on 4G, right?

Li Hongbo, the General Manager of Hubei Telecom, stated in an interview with the author that "Hubei's 4G network has started construction and is expected to reach commercial level by the end of the year. Telecom mainly adopts TDD/FDD hybrid networking." Like Hubei Telecom, most provinces and regions in China appear low-key in 4G and have hidden secrets.

From the Internet search, China Telecom can hardly find the dynamic information of 4G in other cities except for the 4G experimental network of Nanjing Asian Youth Games. The author found through contact with the middle and senior management of China Telecom that this group of people is very secretive about 4G.

I remember that before the China Telecom Tianyi Terminal Trade Fair in June this year, the author intended to visit Chairman Wang Xiaochu. People close to Wang Dong remind me that this question is very taboo, so don't make it difficult for him. The knowledgeable author chose a terminal strategy to ask a question, and on the spot, Chairman Xiaochu extended four fingers and talked about a four inch large screen phone, which was speculated by netizens to be the choice of 4G standard.

Hehe, at this meeting, the author has been following around Mr. Xiaochu. He led Qualcomm Chairman and CEO Paul Jacob to a special viewing of the 4G solutions at the telecommunications booth, chatting and laughing, and I believe he was particularly happy about the debut of telecommunications 4G.

In his subsequent speech, he discussed China Telecom's strategy of building a TDD/FDD integrated network.

And it revealed the deployment blueprint of China Telecom's 4G network: "The large-scale and wide coverage 4G network will still use the FDD standard, while the TDD standard will be used in the urban area to absorb excess traffic."

This is the earliest tone of 4G on China Telecom. Wang Xiaochu also said that China Telecom's 4G network construction will increase to 10 billion yuan (originally planned to be 5 billion yuan). As a state-owned enterprise, the first thing to be publicly disclosed is the flag and wind vane.

With the 4G Tiger Talisman and the Grain and Grass Plan, it's time to go out and fight.

So let's hear what the "soldiers" on the front line are saying?

1. 4G is more difficult to locate base stations than 2G/3G networks. The construction of TD-LTE in Shanghai has encountered major difficulties. Among the 2400 planned base stations in TD Phase VI, nearly 500, accounting for about 20%, cannot be fully purchased. Nearly half of them are due to obstruction by property owners, while 30% are residential areas and schools. Due to concerns about electromagnetic radiation, they express extreme aversion and lack of cooperation towards the construction of TD-LTE base stations, making it difficult to coordinate. China Telecom arrived later in the field of mobile networks, so it definitely encountered no less trouble than China Mobile.

2. 2G/3G base stations can be built less, but 4G cannot. 4G base stations have a smaller coverage area, denser distribution, more quantity, greater communication radiation and signal interference, making it more difficult to negotiate with municipal and property management before construction;

3. Can the construction cost of each 4G base station be reduced to 300000 to 500000 yuan? According to the author's investigation, real estate prices are constantly rising, with prices for purchasing facilities, labor maintenance, rental fees, and more being around this level. If you encounter "nail households", it is impossible to calculate the price. Calculate how many base stations can be built with 10 billion yuan? For China's 9.6 million square kilometers, it is almost impossible to find any trace.

What do telecommunications employees need now?

1. Improve the treatment of grassroots employees without making any fuss. Compared to 10 years ago, prices have increased tenfold, while employee salaries are decreasing. In order to develop 3G users, Telecom has gone through storms and cold weather, practicing street vendors and wandering through villages and alleys, unable to sleep at night. Finally, with nearly 100 million 3G users, it is within reach of China Mobile and China Unicom. Moreover, Telecom Tianyi's 3G network has the widest coverage in the country, the best user reputation, and a bright path for money. Who knew that on the way, a 4G was killed, how could this make the telecommunications industry feel embarrassed?

2. Recently, the State Council has adopted the broadband China strategy, and telecommunications has been deeply cultivating fixed networks, with obvious advantages in this area.

Shanghai, Beijing, and Hubei have carried out the third major broadband acceleration. The author has learned that over a thousand users in the three towns of Wuhan have upgraded to 100M. Someone asked, what is the use of high-speed broadband? Firstly, connect to Wi Fi and compete for the living room. Wuhan Telecom's iTV service allows for smooth viewing of high-definition videos; Secondly, drive mobile client applications. For example, smart transportation can check the city's road conditions at any time, and even compete with OTTs such as Gaode.

3. Not willing to operate in a homogeneous manner with China Mobile, and unwilling to engage in hand to hand combat between brothers. Telecom employees told me that if Telecom were to also implement TD-LTE and move two years slower than China Mobile, wouldn't it be a return to the old path of the 2G era? Homogeneous competition, vicious competition, and years of hand to hand combat and group fights among frontline employees have left telecommunications companies with lingering fear.

Engaging in broadband is not a bright future

Allowing telecommunications to develop 4G networks is just a demonstration from the leadership, but employees are not very willing and the market prospects are not clear. So, let Telecom focus solely on broadband China. According to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, as of the end of September, China's mobile phone users reached 1.207 billion, including 368 million 3G users. The number of Internet broadband access users increased by 15.95 million, with a total of 186 million users. As early as the beginning of this year, data disclosed by China Telecom to the outside world showed that broadband users had exceeded 100 million, and compared with China Unicom and China Tietong, the broadband market had an absolute advantage.

However, today has come to the era of mobile Internet, and the disadvantages of fixed network broadband continue to emerge. Hubei, as the province with the earliest start and leading broadband of China Telecom, is the most typical example.

1. Large investment and long payback period

Li Hongbo told the author that from 2010 to 2013, Hubei Telecom invested 12.3 billion yuan in network construction, of which fixed network accounted for more than 50%. In rural areas, there are constraints such as high investment in information infrastructure construction, high maintenance costs, and low efficiency output.

The calculation of electricity bills alone has become a concern. According to Gao Pengjun, Deputy General Manager of Hunan Telecom, Hubei Telecom's annual electricity expenditure exceeds Hunan Telecom's 300 million yuan to 1 billion yuan, accounting for about 10% of the annual revenue of 10 billion yuan.

2. High loss, unable to find compensation

Li Hongbo told the author that the demolition of old residential areas has caused significant losses in communication infrastructure. Hubei Telecom invests about 1000 yuan per user deployed in old residential areas, and many old residential areas have very little compensation for demolition.

In addition, communication facilities have been stolen, and news outlets are frequently seen throughout the country. For example, Shandong Unicom loses 200 million yuan annually due to the theft of copper cables. These losses are almost negligible.

In addition to human factors, there are also many natural disasters (earthquakes, mudslides, etc.) that cause damage to communication facilities and economic losses, which are difficult to calculate.

Moreover, phenomena similar to those in Hubei are very common throughout the country.

3. The bottleneck of the "last mile" has not been resolved yet, as the Telecommunications Law has not been promulgated. Property management collects money while users reject base stations. Among them, fiber optic broadband entering households must be accessed through wired pipelines, which is more difficult than wireless access.

4. Do we need efficiency or corporate social responsibility? Some people say that telecommunications is a listed company, and maximizing corporate interests is understandable. Losing money business can be avoided. In rural areas with high mountains, long roads, deep ditches, and sparse population, broadband can be avoided, and information technology can be avoided. Poor consumption ability, telecommunications also needs to make losses, why? Once the telecommunications operator refuses, it may lead to complaints. How dare the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other government calls not to listen?

In the words of employees at China Telecom, 4G is a "pie" drawn by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, while fixed line broadband is a "chicken rib" that can be eaten at any time. How can the two be balanced? Top designers need to think twice!