China's Big Three Telecoms Deny Nobbling 4G to Spur 5G in Beijing
Liao Shumin
DATE:  Aug 20 2019
/ SOURCE:  yicai
China's Big Three Telecoms Deny Nobbling 4G to Spur 5G in Beijing China's Big Three Telecoms Deny Nobbling 4G to Spur 5G in Beijing

(Yicai Global) Aug. 20 -- Customer service staff at China's big three telecommunication operators China Mobile, China United Network Communications Group and China Telecom have denied a rumor that cropped up yesterday which claimed the three have put the brakes on the fourth-generation wireless communications networks to promote their 5G next-generation counterparts.

The 5G network faster in any case, and they have received no notice of a slowdown in the 4G network's speed, the operator replied, Beijing Youth Daily reported.

The 5G network already covers the entire area within Beijing's Fourth Ring Road and the city's core areas, China Mobile customer service staff noted, adding areas inside the capital's Fifth Ring Road will also be covered by the end of September, but with the South Fourth Ring the Road the southernmost area where the 5G signal will be available. 
Users accessing 5G enjoy a maximum network speed of one gigabit per second. The 4G network's theoretical speed is 100 million bits per second, or 12.5 megabytes per second, 11mb/s faster than the actual speed of 1.51 mb/s metered by web users, according to the online scuttlebutt making the rounds yesterday.

The big three telecom operators' 4G network speeds were 37.6 Mbps, 34.1 Mbps and 42.8 Mbps, per the report, which did not identify which operator transmitted at which speed, citing its reporter's field test yesterday with a 4G cell phone, which did not register a speed of 1.51 mb/s or below.

A 4G network download generally occurs at several dozens of Mbps in daily usage, said independent telecom sector analyst Fu Liang. Therefore, both 20-30Mbps and 30-40 Mbps are in a normal and relatively common range.

Currently, non-standalone 5G radio may slightly decrease the ultra-high speed of some dual-carrier 4G plus network as it shares resources with 4G network, but it will not affect users of the common 4G network, Fu said.

Customers can access the new network standard without changing their SIM cards or phone numbers, and all they need do is buy a 5G-compliant cellphone, customer support staff with the big three telecom operator said yesterday in a question and answer session .

Operators are currently offering 5G experience packages to offer prospective customers a preview with free traffic.

Editor: Ben Armour

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Keywords:   5G,Telecommunications Operators