China News Service Client, Beijing, June 17 (Reporter Wu Tao) Recently, it was reported that China Unicom forced users to activate the use of 5G cards, and consumers felt that they were being 5G. What happened?
China Information and Communications Institute announced the 5G mobile phone shipments and proportion. Screenshot
Phenomenon: 5G package users exceed 5G mobile phone shipments
Recently, the reporter compared the data released by the three major operators and some authoritative institutions such as China Information and Communications Institute and found some strange phenomena, such as the number of 5G package users exceeds the shipment of 5G mobile phones, the 5G user data released by the operator and the data released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology There are discrepancies, and so on.
According to data from the China Academy of Information Technology, from January to April 2020, the cumulative shipment of 5G mobile phones in the domestic market was 30.441 million units, and a total of 65 new models were launched, accounting for 33.6% and 47.4%, respectively.
Throughout 2019, the domestic mobile phone market shipped 389 million units, including 13.769 million 5G mobile phones. In other words, after adding the two, as of the end of April, the cumulative shipments of 5G mobile phones in the domestic market were 44.21 million units.
Look again at the 5G package user data announced by the operator.
According to data disclosed by China Mobile, as of the end of April, the number of 5G subscribers of China Mobile was 43.745 million. China Telecom's 5G package users are 21.7 million. The combined number of 5G package users exceeds 65 million. China Unicom has not separately disclosed the number of 5G users.
In addition, on May 25, Miao Wei, Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that there are now more than 10,000 5G base stations added every week. 5G users have increased by more than 7 million in April alone, and the cumulative number has exceeded 36 million. The 36 million 5G users and the number of 5G package users announced by the three major operators are also very different.
The number of 5G package users announced by China Telecom. Screenshot
Have you ever used a 5G terminal even if you are a 5G user?
How are these 5G users counted? At present, there is no authoritative definition of the difference between 5G users and 5G package users. According to the understanding of many consumers, only users who normally use the 5G network are considered 5G users.
Some analysts believe that the number of 5G package users exceeds 5G mobile phone shipments. One possibility is that users are using 4G mobile phones, but they have applied for 5G packages; another possibility is that a large number of 5G mobile phone users use dual card dual standby, and two The numbers all use 5G packages.
However, the price of 5G packages is currently high, and the unit price of 5G data for most packages is also higher than the unit price of 4G data. If you don't use a 5G mobile phone, even if you apply for a 5G package, you will not be able to enjoy 5G network speed. Will any users do this?
In addition, it is understood that many users now use 5G mobile phones, but still use 4G packages, not to mention the two cards for 5G packages with dual cards and dual standby.
There is also a possibility that the customer service of China Telecom told the reporter of China New Network that "the 5G terminal has been used even if it is a 5G user." At present, the reporter himself is also counted as a 5G user by China Telecom, but in fact, "I still use the 4G package, just I occasionally used 5G phones for a few days."
China Telecom customer service explained that you have a 5G terminal under your number, so by default you are a 5G user.
Data Map: The 5G era is coming. Photo by Wu Tao
Some users report being forced to activate 5G
The reporter found in the investigation that there may be another reason for the 5G card, but it has not been activated. This part may also be counted.
On the 15th, there were media reports that Mr. Zhang, who lives in Beijing, applied for a “5G+broadband” fusion package from Beijing Unicom and paid the monthly package in full on schedule, but because he did not activate the 5G mobile phone card in the package, he would Beijing Unicom cut off broadband for a week.
Beijing Unicom said that this was in accordance with the agreement, but Mr. Zhang's broadband was subsequently restored. Are these users counted as 5G users? The reporter contacted the relevant person in charge of China Unicom. As of press time, no response has been received.
It is understood that the mobile phone number and broadband service bundled packages are currently more popular, operators are to do broadband to send mobile phone numbers and packages (or understood as a new number to access network services to send broadband).
Interestingly, the above-mentioned integrated package monthly rent of 166 yuan, including the two benefits if purchased separately, the total monthly rent exceeds 300 yuan, but even so, Beijing Unicom prefers users to purchase and activate the use of 5G cards.
Independent telecommunications analyst Fu Liang believes that Beijing Unicom has no way to rely on this method to obtain reasonable income. It can only be said that it has increased the number of illusory 5G users. Such packages are unreasonable and there are some problems in the design idea. (Finish)