4G first battle to win China Mobile next step?

Since the issuance of 4G licenses at the end of 2013, China Mobile's 4G base station construction and 4G subscribers have grown at a rapid rate. As of the end of July, China Mobile's 4G subscribers reached 209 million, surpassing 200 million for the first time, and the number of base stations has reached 940,000. It should be said that basic It has reversed the disadvantages of the 3G era and is still leading. Next, China Mobile's work has shifted from fully building 4G networks to focusing on ensuring 4G construction investment, making full efforts to optimize 4G networks and actively leading the development of 4G.

4G first battle victory: a beautiful turnaround ä»—

The data shows that China Mobile has built a world-class 4G network one step ahead. By the end of July, China Mobile's 4G subscribers reached 209 million, surpassing 200 million for the first time, and approaching the number of 3G subscribers in number, the number of base stations has reached 940,000. The network capacity has been continuously enhanced and the coverage has become increasingly perfect. It has become the world's largest 4G network covering more than 1 billion people. It has basically achieved continuous coverage of cities and counties across the country, and covered data hotspots in developed townships and rural areas.

At the same time, China Mobile also vigorously guides the terminal industry chain, launching 4G terminals with more abundant models and more suitable prices. In the first half of the year, it sold 140 million 4G mobile phones through omni-channel; and accelerated the integration of terminals, USIM cards and 4G packages. Customers migrated to 4G, and 4G customers showed a good momentum of accelerated development, with a net increase of 99.6 million in the first half of the year.

In the face of soaring results, former China Mobile Chairman Qi Guohua said frankly: "China Mobile may have a little weakness in the 3G era. Through the efforts of last year, especially through the efforts of the first half of this year, it should be said that it basically reversed the 3G era. The disadvantage, but also the lead, is very gratifying. China Mobile has adopted China's TD-LTE technology with independent intellectual property rights. Through large-scale practice, it proves that this technology is mature and gradually realizes international Turn."

Outline leader: 4G strategy

At the World Mobile Communications Conference at the beginning of the year, China Mobile said that it will build 1 million 4G base stations by the end of this year to achieve full network coverage, and at the same time achieve deep coverage of subways, high-speed rails, commercial buildings, etc.; accelerate the expansion of LTE international roaming range, and strive to have LTE international The countries and regions with roaming conditions are 100% open; the sales terminals are 250 million, of which 4G terminals will reach 200 million; 4G customers will reach 250 million.

In terms of new network technologies, it will actively promote the evolution of 4G technology, accelerate the commercialization of LTE-A, and increase the speed from 100M to 200M, 600M, and even 1G in the future. At the same time, technologies such as 3D-MIMO, big data network optimization, and interference cancellation are mature. At the network level, we are actively promoting the maturity of technologies such as NFV and SDN.

In terms of terminal technology, we will work together to create 4G GlobalPhone, allowing users to travel around the world. Focusing on this goal, we will further promote support for TDD/FDD convergence, support mainstream modes and frequency bands, and promote more terminals, chips, etc. to support VoLTE and RCS, and support LTE-A key features.

On the business side, China Mobile will continue to promote the rapid maturity and commercialization of converged communications, transform its business, and actively expand new markets for information services such as car networking, mobile healthcare and education.

Next step: Mainly based on network optimization and 4G technology evolution

Although after the super-speed construction in 2014 and the first half of 2015, China Mobile has one of the world's largest 4G networks, but there are still many network optimization tasks to be completed. It is understood that in 2015 China Mobile's work from the full construction of 4G network to the key to ensure 4G construction investment, to do a good job of 4G network optimization, and actively lead the 4G evolution.

In fact, China Mobile said very early that 2015 will be the last year of large-scale investment in 4G, and this year's work plan also confirms this point, that is, the construction of about 300,000 base stations throughout the year, this year's work is optimized by network. Mainly.

Network optimization is a long-term process compared to base station construction. Industry experts said that in the daily 4G network optimization process, engineers can find problems through OMC network management, signaling tracking, optimization tools and so on. It should be noted that the premise of network optimization is to do a good job in data collection and analysis. Data collection includes road test data and traffic statistics collection. Obviously the construction and maintenance of 1 million base stations is not a simple task.

Although network optimization can ensure users get a better online experience, this is just the basic work. For China Mobile, the next step is to promote the evolution of 4G technology.

There are three key technologies for further evolution of 4G networks: carrier aggregation technology (CA technology), high-order modulation and demodulation technology, and 3D MIMO technology. Among them, 3D MIMO is a kind of “quasi 5G” technology, which is based on multi-array antenna to double the spectrum utilization efficiency, thereby improving data transmission efficiency and reliability. 3D MIMO can be further combined with carrier aggregation and high-order modulation and demodulation technology to transform 4G networks.

Although China Mobile's current large-scale commercial TD-LTE network rate still stays at 100Mbps, it has been promoting LTE-A evolution. In 2014, we cooperated with Huawei to deploy a small-scale dual-carrier aggregation network in the existing networks of Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Beijing, etc., and verified the application of F-band + D-band 95MHz bandwidth at the Asian Mobile Communications Expo in the same year. Carrier aggregation, the highest downlink rate exceeds 1Gbps.

At present, China Mobile has used carrier aggregation technology in 4G networks, and some cities are using commercial carrier aggregation. With this technology, the downlink peak rate of 330M can be achieved at most, and the whole network is expected to accelerate to 200-300M during the year.

Since 5G technology is still in the process of standardization, it is proposed that a transition network evolution solution is the best choice for adapting to new demands.

"Through technologies such as 3D MIMO with more antennas, more carrier aggregation, higher-order modulation, etc., the technology of TDD continues to evolve. We have called this continuous evolution "TDD+", which will be in our 4G "The role of China Mobile is being tested." Flexible dual-connect, higher-order modulation and other technologies can increase the 4G rate by more than 5 times."

It is expected that the peak rate of China Mobile's network will reach 5Gbps when TDD+ is put into commercial use from 2016 to 2020.

“China Mobile has built a 4G network ahead of the curve and is moving towards faster, smarter and more efficient. We are building a CA (Carrier AggregaTIon, Carrier Aggregation Technology) for the entire network. From a long-term perspective, we RCS (RichCommunicaTIonSuite, rich media communication) is being built. For longer-term goals, we have begun to research and invest in the construction of 5G networks. The overall goal is to provide users with a better network experience step by step.” Guo Guohua said.

At the same time, Yan Guohua said that with limited spectrum resources, TD-LTE has the advantage of asymmetry, can be deployed on asymmetric spectrum, saves spectrum resources, and has a broad market for TD-LTE in the world. "I think it is very likely In the future, 5G technology will adopt TDD technology."

China Mobile believes that before the 5G mature commercialization, it will further promote the technological evolution of the TD-LTE network, so that the 4G network can meet the needs of the existing mobile broadband network.

In short, China Mobile will build and maintain a 4G lead in 2015. To expand the 4G development results and consolidate the leading edge, we must build a 4G boutique network and deepen the synergy between 4G and 2G/3G/WLAN in the network and market. Second, we must expand the 4G user scale to further enhance marketing capabilities and accelerate the conversion of 2G/3G customers to 4G. Third, we must pay attention to reducing costs and increasing efficiency, and improving development quality and efficiency. It is necessary to maintain pressure and focus resources on core work such as 4G development and flow management, and strictly reduce non-productive expenditures. Fourth, we must do a good job in 4G operation, maintain 4G network, market, business and other aspects, focus on ensuring 4G construction investment, do our best to optimize 4G network, actively lead 4G evolution and development; fully realize "new calls, new news, new contacts" Converging communications commercials, and strive to expand 4G international roaming to create 4G special services.