According to the December 2021 data released by the operators, the three major operators currently have more than 700 million 5G users, but according to the data of the Institute of Information and Communications Technology, the cumulative sales of 5G mobile phones in the Chinese market are only 440 million units, which means that about 260 million of them have not used 5G and 5G networks.
Consumers are reluctant to actively use 5G services, mainly because the price of the operator's 5G package is too high, according to the 5G package currently announced by the three major operators, the 5G package price is generally higher than 100 yuan, which is 1.5 times higher than the per capita ARPU of the three major operators as low as 40 yuan.
The excessive price of 5G packages has led to many users being reluctant to buy 5G mobile phones and unwilling to use 5G packages, but operators continue to call consumers to promote 5G packages for various reasons, resulting in the 260 million users who have not used 5G mobile phones but used 5G packages.
Operators are reluctant to reduce the price of 5G packages in fact, in fact, they also have their grievances, operators announced investment shows that the construction of 5G networks has cost hundreds of billions, and after the completion of the 5G network, China Mobile's existing more than 700,000 5G base stations will increase their electricity bills by nearly 20 billion in 2021, while China Mobile's 2.4 million 4G base stations and huge amount of 2G base stations will have a total electricity bill of only about 36 billion.
High investment and operating costs, resulting in operators are reluctant to reduce the price of 5G packages too early, after all, it is difficult to rise after the price of 5G packages is reduced, which undoubtedly affects many consumers to enjoy high-speed 5G networks, in order to change this situation, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's recent expectations for netizens will urge operators to reduce 5G tariff solutions.
In fact, operators have repeatedly refused to reduce 5G tariffs on the grounds of high costs, it is really impossible to say, China Mobile's performance shows that the net profit is as high as more than 100 billion yuan, the net profit margin is as high as 14%, and the ultra-high profit level is unwilling to benefit the people, which naturally makes consumers quite dissatisfied.
Operators' excessive tariffs also affected the sales of mobile phones, the highest record of mobile phone sales in the Chinese market appeared in 2016, that year the Chinese market mobile phone sales were close to 500 million, after which mobile phone sales declined year by year, to 2020 mobile phone sales have been as low as 325 million, although there is a rebound in 2021 but the year-on-year growth rate is only about 1%.
The sluggish market is not conducive to promoting economic development, all parties originally expected 5G commercial to drive the sales of mobile phones, but the high price of 5G packages obviously hit the enthusiasm of consumers to buy 5G mobile phones, resulting in 5G commercial and failed to effectively promote the consumption of 5G mobile phones, which has also become an important reason for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to ask operators to reduce prices.
In the case of operators unwilling to take the initiative to reduce prices, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has assumed the responsibility of promoting operator price reductions, perhaps with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the three major operators will have to take the initiative to reduce the price of 5G packages, if the price of 5G packages during the year is as low as 100 yuan or less will be conducive to promoting economic development.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is the superior competent department of the operator, so the speech of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology naturally puts pressure on the operator, consumers have expectations for this, this time the operator may no longer ignore the requirements of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and consumers, price reduction will be the trend of the times, consumers may expect this year's 5G tariffs to drop sharply, to obtain more affordable 5G services.