Belated licences, belated flowering

Have to say, the ministry has a strong Friday complex. Last June 27 (Friday), the Ministry of China Telecom and Chinese Unicom approved the 4G Hybrid network test in 16 cities. February 27 this year (Friday), the Ministry of China Telecom and Chinese Unicom issued a "start package", officially issued LTE FDD licence.

Chinese telecom and China Unicom eagerly waited for 14 months, and finally came to this paper approval, which means the operator 4G "Three Kingdoms Kill" the full arrival of the era. Although China Mobile has established a huge advantage in the false-start period, this is the reality that has to face, but for China Telecom and Unicom, FDD licensing is indeed good, and two operators have been for a long time, do a lot of preparation, 4G era after the full opening of the competition situation is worth looking forward to.

Belated licence

"FDD license plate is good for China Telecom and Unicom, although it has little influence on the competition pattern of operators in the short term." Shu Huaying, a professor at Beijing University of Posts and telecommunications, told the IT times that the reason for this was that China Mobile had already established a huge advantage in the false-phase, and the second was because China Telecom and Unicom were not very well funded.

December 2013, the Ministry of three operators issued a LTE licence, but because only China Mobile built a large number of LTE base station, China Telecom and Unicom are waiting for FDD. Therefore, the licensing is actually allowed China Mobile LTE 4G can "false". At that time, many people in the industry expected that domestic 4G standard LTE false-false period in about a year. It also proved that analysts ' estimates were basically accurate, with the Ministry of Industry issuing FDD licences to China Telecom and Unicom in 14 months, but many were surprised that China Mobile would run so far in the 14-month-long false-date.

"China Mobile has been ' a dust-ridden ' on 4G," China Telecom and Unicom have difficulty catching up. Telecom Analyst Liang told the IT times. Take the 4G base station, China Mobile, more than 700,000 at the end of 2014, with a target of 1 million at the end of 2015, Liang said the network gap with China Mobile will remain in place for a long time, even if there is sufficient funding to share China Mobile's resources, even with the support of the Tower company.

With China Mobile doing so quickly, regulators should actually issue FDD licences earlier. November 2014, China Mobile 4G user penetration rate of more than 8%, and the Ministry of Information published data, China 3G users have been negative. "At this time, the conditions for issuing 4G licences are available." Even earlier, China Mobile 4G users could be released when the company's total mobile user penetration rate reaches 5%. "Liang thinks.

Each holding a good hand

In the face of China Mobile in the 4G false phase of the establishment of the huge advantage of China Telecom, the Chinese unicom pressure is huge, but there are opportunities.

The chip and the terminal are two important factors that affect the operator's 4G competitiveness. For China Telecom, the recent good news pouring, in early February, MediaTek released a CDMA network based on the 4G full netcom chip solution. Prior to that, the telecom network 4G solution based on CDMA2000 technology had only one single chip solution available for Qualcomm. The addition of MediaTek has made the 4G industrial chain more powerful, especially in the chips.

In the terminal, the current market sales of the sky Wing 4G terminal has reached hundreds. In 2015, China Telecom made it clear that it would invest 16 billion yuan to build 100 fine 4G handsets, and the terminal's richness would be further enhanced. At the same time MediaTek joined the CDMA camp, will help push end manufacturers to launch a more cost-effective 4G full netcom mobile phones. And after the antitrust case ended, Qualcomm lowered its patent fees, which will also be transmitted to the end of the vendor link, reducing the cost of 4G mobile phone.

After the formal licensing of FDD, two operators can launch LTE, FDD "4G" terminal, but also to launch the international more mature single FDD 4G mobile phone, for the two operators terminal industry chain will be a big positive.

In the 4G comprehensive competition era, compared to the competitor China Telecom also has an advantage to rely on, that is its fixed network broadband resources. At the beginning of the mobile business license in 2008, China Telecom took the path of integration and development, relying on the advantage of broadband service resources to drive the development of mobile business, so that the user scale is rapidly increasing. After several years of large-scale investment, China Telecom fiber to households (FTTH) coverage of 150 million households, fixed broadband users more than 120 million households, of which FTTH users more than 45 million households, backbone network capacity growth of 3.8 times times, which are greatly ahead of competitors. China Telecom is fully able to take the wired broadband, LTE wireless broadband integration development of the road, to provide users with integrated packages, relying on the advantages of fixed network resources for the 4G business development to help.

For China Unicom, its WCDMA network in the 3G era occupy an advantage, and in the advent of the 4G era, should continue to maintain its 3G advantage, "only 4G, it is impossible to compete with China Mobile," Liang. At present, China Unicom's 3G generally upgraded to 42M HSPA network, but also may reach 63M, so the development of China Unicom 4G rely on its 3G advantage, 4G priority to cover the region with high volume of 3G.

Telecom, Unicom scale deployment 4G

In addition to the previous 41 mixed network pilot cities to carry out 4G business, China Unicom and the Chinese telecom in fact also for the full implementation of the 4G business has carried out a lot of preparation, licensing one, the adoption of a certain, 4G comprehensive business era.

In Guangdong, for example, Guangdong Unicom said it had deployed LTE FDD networks in 21 cities across the province, all urban areas, developed counties, developed townships have achieved good coverage, is expected to 5 17 World Telecommunication Day, will be in the province to achieve urban areas, county, township, 3 A and above scenic spots, colleges and universities and other scenes of continuous coverage. Guangdong Telecom has announced the simultaneous launch of 4G commercial Day wing.

In the western province of Sichuan, Sichuan Telecom, said FDD 4G base station has covered 21 cities (states), counties and major townships in Sichuan Province, to provide users of the province 4G business, Sichuan Unicom said it will further accelerate the construction of LTE network, the end of March this year to complete the township full coverage. In Zhejiang and other provinces, telecommunications, Unicom has also achieved the province's urban and rural areas of good 4G coverage.

"Believe that the 4G business full commercial, will be two operators of mobile business development." Telecommunications expert Cheng Dejie said.