4G tariffs are too high or luxury goods

With the advent of the 4G boom, its tariff has also become a topic of market concern.

According to media reports, on December 21, Sichuan Telecom held a Tianyi 4G conference in Chengdu, and it is expected to open a 4G network free experience in the whole of Sichuan in early January next year. Zhao Maiqing, general manager of Sichuan Telecom, said that Tianyi’s 4G tariff will only be cheaper than 3G.

Yesterday (December 23rd), Miao Wei, Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, stated, “We also need to further encourage companies to compete to promote the continuous decline of 4G prices through competition and improve customer service.”

Wu Chunyong, editor-in-chief of the three-network integration research and integration network, told the reporter of the “Daily Economic News” that from the perspective of capital recovery speed, there may be room for the reduction of 4G tariffs. However, the current 4G tariffs should not be too low, on the one hand, in order to quickly recover costs; on the other hand, due to the base station construction is not mature, coverage is low, if the price is too low may increase the network load, reduce the 4G user experience is not conducive to The healthy development of 4G.

4G tariff is too high?

Since the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology formally released the 4G license on December 4, the three major operators have increasingly promoted 4G. China Mobile has already launched a number of 4G mobile phones. Yesterday Apple announced that it had reached an agreement with China Mobile to launch the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c that support mobile 4G networks on January 17. China Unicom, which has not obtained an FDD license, also announced that it will launch more than 150 4G handsets in 2014. China Telecom also stated that it has conducted 4G network construction in 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) and will launch LTE commercialization in key cities.

According to industry insiders, the mobile video industry will show explosive growth due to the fast 4G download speed.

However, the arrival of a turning point in the video industry may be premised on 4G tariffs. According to previous media reports, the minimum charge for Beijing Mobile's basic package is 138 yuan, which includes 600M domestic data traffic and 500 minutes of domestic calling time, while a separate 4G Internet traffic package can receive 600M data traffic for 50 yuan per month.

A user pointed out to the reporter of “Daily Economic News” that according to the calculation of the peak 100M per second of 4G download, the current 50M 600M flow package launched by China Mobile can theoretically be used in 6 seconds.

Miao Miao, Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said at a press conference yesterday that although the 4G price announced is now relatively high, users are not very satisfied, but the price is still lower than in the 3G era. It is up to the enterprise to decide on the market adjustment price for 4G business.

There is room for reduction in tariffs

For users concerned about whether or not to launch an open-ended package, Lu Yimin, general manager of China Unicom, said, “Foreign operators found that 5% of users occupy 95% of the entire network traffic. The monthly unlimited traffic model allows some people to take up the wireless without hesitation. The network resources will eventually cause most people to use. In order to achieve equal opportunities for the users, the company cannot launch the unlimited-flow rate model."

According to public information, operators such as AT&T, Verizon, and France Telecom have implemented no-restriction packages. However, due to heavy network burden, multiple network disconnections occurred at the end of 2009 and early 2010. After several increases in network investment and the reconfiguration of base stations, After no effect, several major operators have cancelled the package one after another.

Although it may not be advisable to have an open-ended flow, there may still be some room for reducing tariffs. Taking China Unicom 3G as an example, public information shows that after China issued 3G licenses in 2009, China Unicom’s investment in the construction and maintenance of 3G base stations was not more than 200 billion yuan. In 2012 alone, 3G revenue reached 61.71 billion yuan. In the first half of this year, the revenue of this business has reached 42.25 billion yuan, and the capital recovery rate is faster.

Wu Chunyong said, “From the point of view of capital recovery rate, there may be room for a reduction in 4G tariffs. However, China Unicom’s 3G technology is WCDMA. This technology itself is relatively mature and industrialization is relatively early, and China Mobile’s 4G technology TD - LTE may be less expensive than its investment, the trial cost is lower, and the price may be relatively cheap."