BEIJING, April 18 (Reporter Wu Tao) Recently, it was reported that China Unicom would close its 2G network. China Unicom issued an announcement in response, and is promoting the frequency reduction of 2G networks in an orderly manner. What is frequency reduction in 2G networks? Will it affect consumers and why?
Multi-operators start network frequency reduction
For the frequency reduction of 2G networks, the reporter consulted the three major operators respectively. China Unicom said,The frequency reduction of 2G network can’t be called closing 2G network, because users are still on 2G network, but there is a process of frequency reduction and slimming step by step..
Some insiders who don’t want to be named said that the gradual frequency reduction of 2G is actually the gradual withdrawal of 2G from the network, and the complete disappearance of 2G base stations means that 2G is completely withdrawn from the network; At present, the three major operators are still in a state where 2G, 3G and 4G networks coexist.
According to an insider of China Mobile,China Mobile has no plans to quit the network for 2G at present.. As of press time, China Telecom has no reply.
However, Fu Liang, an independent telecom analyst, revealed in an interview with Zhongxin.com that in fact, all three major operators are doing network frequency reduction work, and China Unicom is still the latest; Among them, China Mobile is doing 3G network frequency reduction.
Will consumers be affected?
According to the data released by China Unicom, by the end of February, there were 289 million users in China Unicom, including 187 million 4G users. It is reported that China Unicom’s 2G users account for about 2% of its total users, which means that China Unicom has more than 500 million 2G users.
Will these users be affected by the frequency reduction of 2G networks? China Unicom said that it willTake various preferential measures, such as replacing mobile phone cards for free, giving away experience traffic, and offering preferential purchase, to assist existing 2G customers to upgrade to 4G networks.In this process, the existing 2G customer service will not be affected.
Xiang Ligang, an expert in communication industry, believes that the frequency reduction of the 2G network of China Unicom is not affected by the vast majority of consumers.
Fu Liang believes that it is impossible for 2G users to have no impact at all. It can only be said that it is less affected. After frequency reduction, 2G network coverage may be insufficient in some places, "butFrequency reduction does not mean that the 2G network cannot be used, because there are still 2G base stations.. "
The reporter noted that, despite the current 4G era, 2G or 3G networks still play a role. Some users said in an interview with Zhongxin.com, "I still feel that the existence of 2G networks is better becauseIn some places, there is no 4G network coverage. When passing through these places, the mobile phone will automatically switch to 3G or 2G networks, and there is still a process of connecting when using it, or it will be disconnected."
Data Map: There are more and more 4G users. The picture shows Shenyang citizens using the 4G network to surf the Internet for free on the bus. China News Agency issued by Haiyang Photo
Why do you want network frequency reduction?
Since there are still users, why do you want to reduce the frequency of 2G networks?
Fu Liang said that it turned out that2G network occupies some frequency bands, and some frequency bands are scarce, which can be said to be valuable resources. After reuse, it can be used in 4G network construction., which is conducive to improving network quality and network wide-area coverage.
China Unicom also indicated that the bandwidth resources will be used for higher 4G networks and deployment.
"In addition, with the decrease of 2G and 3G users, its network capacity is more and more surplus, and its base station and other facilities are increasingly uneconomical to invest in operation and maintenance, which is another reason." Fu Liang said.
This is true. According to the latest data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, as of the end of February, the number of mobile phone users of the three major operators reached 1.44 billion, of which the total number of 4G users reached 1.03 billion, and 4G users accounted for 71.6% of mobile phone users.
However, the data of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology also showed that as of the end of February,The total number of mobile broadband users (namely 3G and 4G users) reached 1.17 billion. This means that there are still 270 million 2G users, which is still a huge number..
In view of this, Fu Liang believes that it is impossible for the three major operators to shut down the 2G network at once. Network frequency reduction is a gradual process, and 2G users do not have to worry too much.
"It should also be pointed out that if the equipment used by 2G users supports WCDMA, even if China Unicom shuts down the 2G network, it will still have no impact on them." Fu Liang said. (End)