On June 23, a China Broadcasting and Television offline business hall in the North Second Ring Road of Dongcheng District, Beijing, had a "Radio and Television 5G" logo on the door. Billboards reading "China Radio and Television, 5G is coming" can be seen everywhere in the store. The
store was renovated from the original business hall of Gehua Cable . It does not look much different from the business halls of other operators. The employees in the store said that the store was just renovated on June 6 this year - the employees in the store are also Gehua Cable. employees.
In the Beijing area, Gehua Cable has been responsible for the construction and management of the city's cable radio and television network. It is now jointly operating and cooperating with China Radio and Television Mobile Beijing Branch on 5G-related services. It is also part of China Radio and Television's "One Nationwide Network" integration.
On June 6, 2019, China Radio and Television received a 5G commercial license from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, becoming China’s fourth 5G communications operator. After a three-year construction period, China Radio and Television is about to take a key step.
html On June 24, the official WeChat ID of China Radio and Television has released a 3-day countdown - China Radio and Television will enjoy the 5G mountains and rivers with you. Economic Observer learned that China Radio and Television will hold a launch ceremony for China Radio and Television’s 5G network services on June 27. This information has not yet received a confirmed reply from China Radio and Television.The clerk at the above-mentioned radio and television business hall said that the team is currently busy with the start-up work before allocating numbers. The information department is upgrading the backend, including the computer page of China Radio and Television, the business hall app, etc. The customer service department is actively training, and the entire team is fast-paced.
More Such radio and television business halls are appearing all over the country. They look no different from the business halls of the other three operators.
The question is, what changes will the entry of radio and television bring? Will the tariffs of
radio and television be lower?
China Radio and Television is the main body in the integrated development of the national cable TV network. It is established and managed by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television. It is currently integrating into the "National One Network" to form an group management model.
Compared with the other three major operators, the advantage of China Radio and Television, a new entrant, is that it controls the 700MHz frequency band, which is also known as the "golden frequency band".
StrategyAnalytics wireless analyst Yang Guang said that according to radio propagation theory, compared with other frequency bands, the advantage of this frequency band is that the coverage area of a single station is larger, but users can experience a peak rate in the 700MHz frequency band that will be lower than that in 2.6GHz or 2.6GHz. 3.5GHz frequency band.
On January 26, 2021, China Radio and Television and China Mobile reached a cooperation to jointly build and share the 700MHz wireless access network . In addition, China Radio and Television also rented China Mobile’s 2.6GHz network to form a complete 5G network service. Yang Guang said that it can be said that users can receive signals from radio and television when they turn on the phone, but they are actually using China Mobile's network.
Yang Guang said that the joint construction of 5G networks will affect network capacity, but the number of users of radio and television will not be too large in the initial stage. When the user base reaches a certain level, it may face expansion problems.
, as the fourth telecom operator in China, has crossed into the market at a time when mobile communications are becoming saturated and the penetration rate of 5G and is relatively high. What kind of 5G will China Radio and Television bring? Can it promote telecom fee reduction?
At present, the 5G package has not been announced in the Beijing Radio and Television Business Hall. The staff of the business hall said that it is still confidential and will be announced in the store on the day when the number is released. Ma Jihua, a communications expert at
, told reporters that China Radio and Television's tariffs are expected to be more favorable because the joint construction of the network with China Mobile will allow China Radio and Television to have lower operating costs and better form a market image of "high quality and low price".
However, Yang Guang believes that the preferential intensity can only be maintained to a certain extent. On the one hand, the joint construction agreement between China Radio and Television and China Mobile may include an agreement on pricing range; on the other hand, too low package prices will also create vicious competition in the market.
Yang Guang said that China Radio and Television controls the media and content resources of TV stations, and combining them with 5G services can bring new experiences to some users.
Missed the best opportunity?
In the business hall of on the North Second Ring Road of , the first batch of radio and television 5G mobile phones are already on display.
The main brands of mobile phones in this business hall are Honor and Xiaomi . They are not flagship phones, and the prices range from 1,000 yuan to 1,500 yuan.This arrangement is different from the business halls of the other three operators. Yang Guang analyzed that using low-end and mid-range mobile phones as contract phones and bundling call packages is a common promotional method used by operators.
reporters learned from the business hall that more terminals are adapting to China Radio and Television’s mobile network. Most brands will complete the adaptation between June and August this year. Among them, Huawei ’s P series and Mate series will be launched at the end of June and July. Upgrades are being pushed one after another, and Apple's iPhone SX series and iPhone 11-13 series are also planned. In addition, the plan also includes Xiaomi, vivo, OPPO, ZTE, Honor, Motorola, Lenovo, Sony and other brands.
Yang Guang said that China Radio and Television released numbers three years after it obtained the license. Compared with industry expectations, it was still much later. It can be said that it has missed the best opportunity to enter communications and failed to catch up with the replacement of 4G to 5G in 2020. tide.
China's 5G construction has passed its peak period. According to financial reports, the 5G penetration rates of China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom have each exceeded 50%. There are already 428 million 5G mobile phone users. As the demographic dividend recedes, the entire mobile communications industry is also becoming saturated.
China Radio and Television’s advantage is that it occupies the cable TV user base. According to State Administration of Radio, Film and Television 2021 data, the actual number of cable TV users nationwide is 204 million, which is far less than the number of mobile communication users. In contrast, the three operators have experienced the dividend period of 3G and 4G mobile communications, and are stronger than China Radio and Television in terms of , cash flow, , network construction, and talent development.
Yang Guang said that China Radio and Television entered a period when the mobile communications market was becoming saturated, and its size and capabilities were weaker than the other three competitors. This made it difficult to promote changes in the pattern. From a user perspective, China Radio and Television’s entry into 5G may not necessarily promote Three other operators are offering price reductions and promotions.
Ma Jihua said that at present, the increase in the mobile communications market is very small. The number distribution by China Radio and Television will divert some operators' users. It may be number diversion, causing some users to give up their original operator numbers, or it may just be traffic diversion. Use part of the user's usage time from the original operator.
Yang Guang said that from a global perspective, mobile communications has become a typical Red Sea market. In terms of business, it requires huge initial investment and the return cycle is relatively long. In terms of cross-border mobile communications, there are not many cases in the world to learn from. Cross-border players are more comprehensive giants, such as Japan's Rakuten Mobile and India's Prudential Industries. They are e-commerce platforms themselves. After entering communications, they do not rely on communications to make profits. , but to pursue synergy with the Internet, content, and payment businesses.
Source: Economic Observer Network Editor: Zheng Chuqiao
