China Unicom Officially Launches 4G Commercial Services: 4G/3G Integration Highlights Terminal Advantages
Yesterday morning, the 2014 China Unicom Partner Conference was held in Shenzhen, Guangdong. At the conference, China Unicom announced the launch of 4G commercial services, with pilot trials initially in 25 cities. In addition, Unicom officially unveiled its 4G/3G integration strategy, released 61 terminal devices, and set this year's 4G/3G integrated development targets.
Leveraging its network advantages from the 3G era, Unicom in the 4G era remains the focus of industry attention and a sought-after choice for users. According to relevant leaders from Guangdong Unicom revealed yesterday evening, on the very day 4G commercial services were announced, Guangdong Unicom alone received over 10,000 applications, with more than 1,000 people visiting business halls to open accounts. As the last operator among the three to announce commercial 4G services, Unicom has received enthusiastic support from the industry chain, forming a complete industrial cooperation and win-win plan at the outset of commercialization.
Integrated Network, Terminals, and Tariffs
Unicom's 4G/3G integration strategy encompasses the entire spectrum from network to terminals to tariffs. It is evident that Unicom aims to blur the boundaries between 4G and 3G, leveraging its 3G-era advantages to drive 4G development.
From a network perspective, Unicom is simultaneously building WCDMA and TD-LTE networks, while also constructing an FDD-LTE trial network. Addressing concerns about the pressure of building multiple networks, Unicom pointed out that the three networks are being constructed and operated collaboratively. The transition from 2G to 3G was a revolution, while the shift from 3G to 4G is an evolution. 3G is like a 4-lane road, TD-LTE is a 10-lane road, and FDD-LTE is a 15-lane road.
"Currently, applications in most regions do not fully utilize the 4-lane capacity, and Unicom's 42Mbps HSPA+ network can already meet application demands. Therefore, Unicom's primary goal is to build and refine a premium WCDMA network, using the TD-LTE network for hotspot coverage. This year's RMB 80 billion capital expenditure is sufficient to meet market development needs," noted Xiong Yu, General Manager of Unicom's Marketing Department. "Of course, the internet is experiencing explosive growth. Last year, Unicom's average monthly data usage per user reached 242MB, and it is still growing at a month-on-month rate of 8%. In hotspot areas, we will strengthen multi-network coverage across WCDMA, TDD, and FDD."
From a terminal perspective, Unicom has also blurred the line between 3G and 4G devices. Unicom stated that multiple 3G terminals support peak speeds of 42Mbps, approaching 4G network speeds. Meanwhile, Unicom has committed that all quad-mode LTE phones will be fully backward compatible with 42Mbps HSPA+ networks.
From a tariff perspective, Unicom's 4G/3G plans have achieved integration, eliminating the need for users to distinguish between the two. Additionally, since Unicom's 4G plans are relatively more affordable, users of 4G services will enjoy greater tariff benefits. Unicom highlighted the features of its 4G plans: "First, it continues the 3G plan's unified pricing for domestic/local voice calls; second, it optimizes unified pricing for voice/video calls; and third, it optimizes unified pricing for SMS/MMS. Moreover, the plans have been greatly simplified, with only eight tiers in total. In addition to basic plans, there are add-on packages, including SMS/MMS packages and value-added service packages, and we have innovatively introduced a six-month data package to address users' cross-period data consumption needs."
Terminal Advantages Highlighted
Due to the maturity of the WCDMA 3G standard, Unicom has consistently maintained a leading edge in the terminal sector. With Unicom's announcement of 4G commercialization, the three major operators will compete head-to-head in the 4G arena. As it stands, Unicom has achieved the continuation of its 3G-era terminal advantages. At this Partner Conference, Unicom, together with 24 terminal manufacturers, released 61 terminal products, including 25 4G terminals, 28 42M terminals, and 8 innovative terminals, clearly indicating a mature stage of development.
Lu Yimin, General Manager of Unicom, stated that the company will work with industry chain partners to promote the development of TD-LTE/FDD LTE/WCDMA/GSM quad-mode phones as well as budget 4G phones, while also driving quad-mode LTE phones to become the international mainstream. "We need to rapidly increase the variety of LTE terminals and accelerate their time-to-market. On the 3G front, we will enhance the penetration of HSPA+ 42M networks, improve the cost-performance ratio of 42M terminals, accelerate the proliferation of full-spectrum 42M products, and achieve coordinated development."
Unicom's terminal strategy will focus on three key priorities—dual-SIM LTE, octa-core large-screen devices, and full-line 42M—to deepen differentiated product customization. Xiong Yu revealed Unicom's 2014 targets: "In 2014, we plan to customize 150 3G/4G terminal models, with 4G phones reaching 50 million units. It is estimated that total terminal sales in 2014 will reach 188 million units, of which LTE+42M customized devices will reach 100 million units."
Leveraging the 4G/3G integrated development strategy and terminal advantages, Unicom will achieve 4G commercial services in 56 cities before May 17, and expand TD-LTE network coverage to 300 cities by the end of the year. In terms of subscriber numbers, the 4G/3G integrated network target is 170 to 180 million users.