ITIT
Source: Shanghai Telecom
Yesterday (March 5), the fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress opened, and the "Government Work Report" reviewed last year's work, and clarified the main goals of this year's development and the overall deployment of the next stage of work.
For the ICT industry, the responsibility remains significant.
The 2022 Government Work Report emphasizes the need to "promote the development of the digital economy." Strengthen the overall layout of digital China construction. These include: "Build digital information infrastructure, promote the large-scale application of 5G, promote the digital transformation of the industry, and develop smart cities and digital villages." "Accelerate the development of the industrial Internet, cultivate and strengthen digital industries such as integrated circuits and artificial intelligence, and enhance the innovation and supply capacity of key software and hardware technologies." "Improve the governance of the digital economy, release the potential of data elements, and better empower economic development and enrich people's lives."
However, it is worth noting that the "speed up and fee reduction" of the information and communication industry has not been written into this year's "Government Work Report", which is the first time since 2017 that the "Government Work Report" has not deployed the task of "speeding up and reducing fees".
01
Deployed "speeding up and reducing fees" for five consecutive years
In the past 2017 to 2021, for five consecutive years, the "Government Work Report" has made clear arrangements for the "speed up and fee reduction" work of the information and communication industry.
Let's start with a review:
In 2017
Cancel all domestic long-distance and roaming charges for mobile phones during the year;
Significantly reduce the Internet access fee for small and medium-sized enterprises;
Reduced international long distance telephone charges;
Promote the in-depth development of "Internet +" and accelerate the growth of the digital economy, so that enterprises can benefit widely and the masses will generally benefit.
In 2018
Increase network speed and fee reduction, achieve full coverage of high-speed broadband in urban and rural areas, and expand the scope of free Internet access in public places;
Significantly reduce home broadband, enterprise broadband and leased line usage fees;
Cancel the traffic "roaming" fee, and reduce the mobile network traffic tariff by at least 30% within the year, so that the masses and enterprises can effectively benefit and fuel the construction of digital China.
In 2019
Continue to promote network speed and fee reduction.
Carry out urban gigabit broadband household demonstrations, transform and upgrade distance education and telemedicine networks, promote the expansion and upgrading of mobile networks, and let users truly feel that the network speed is faster and more stable.
The average broadband tariff for small and medium-sized enterprises will be reduced by another 15%, and the average tariff for mobile network traffic will be reduced by more than 20%.
Implement "number portability" throughout the country and standardize the setting of packages, so that the fee reduction is real and consumers are clear.
In 2020
The average tariff for broadband and private lines was reduced by 15%.
Strengthen the construction of new infrastructure, develop a new generation of information networks, and expand 5G applications.
In 2021
The average tariff of broadband and private lines for small and medium-sized enterprises will be reduced by another 10%.
Increase the construction of 5G networks and Gigabit optical networks, and enrich application scenarios.
02
Take off the "slow internet, expensive" hat
The 2022 "Government Work Report" does not mention "speeding up and reducing fees", mainly because after years of continuous promotion, the mainland's network speed level and information infrastructure level have been greatly improved, while communication tariffs have been greatly reduced, and the mainland has taken off the hat of "slow network speed and expensive tariffs".
From the perspective of "fee reduction"
Whether it's the average tariff for fixed broadband or mobile traffic, the decline has been very pronounced over the years.
In the past five years, the average tariff per unit of fixed broadband bandwidth and mobile network traffic in the mainland has dropped by more than 95%, and the cumulative profit of speeding up and reducing fees has exceeded 700 billion yuan. At present, the tariff level is already about half of the international average. The ARPU of mobile communication users in the mainland is only equivalent to 18% of the United States and 26.7% of South Korea.
From the perspective of mobile traffic tariffs
From the perspective of mobile traffic tariffs, in 2014, before the start of the "speed up and fee reduction", the cost of 1GB of traffic on the mainland was 131.3 yuan, and at the end of 2021, it has been reduced to about 3.14 yuan / GB.
From the perspective of international comparison
According to GSMA statistics, the mainland mobile communication tariff is at a low level in the world, and the average monthly expenditure of mobile communication users ranks 93rd in all 237 countries and regions, ranking 93rd in terms of price from low to high, far lower than that of the United States, Canada, South Korea and other countries.
From the perspective of fixed broadband tariffs
At a low level globally. In the 2020 ICT Service Affordability report published by the International Union (ITU) and the A4AI Alliance (ETH), the cost of internet access is used as a yardstick to measure the burden on users as a proportion of the monthly GNI per capita. In the report, globally, the median price of entry-level fixed broadband (providing at least 5GB of traffic and at least 256Kbps and above) accounts for 2.9% of the monthly per capita GNI, specifically in China, the median price of entry-level fixed broadband as a proportion of the monthly per capita GNI is 0.51%, far below the global average, in terms of price from low to high, the mainland ranks fourth in the world.
From a "speed up" perspective
The level and capacity of the mainland's information infrastructure have been greatly improved, and the most direct embodiment is the rapid increase in the level of network speed.
1) The network infrastructure continues to upgrade and makes great strides towards "double gigabit"
Gigabit optical network refers to the Gigabit optical access technology represented by 10G PON and Wi-Fi 6, covering OTN optical transmission and OCC optical cross-connection technology mainly based on 200G and 400G.
On the mainland, fixed-line broadband has achieved full light, fiber-to-the-home FTTH has basically covered all households, and is making great strides towards gigabit network coverage. By the end of 2021, the 10G PON port of the domestic gigabit optical network has the ability to cover 300 million households. According to the results of the seventh census, there are 494 million households on the mainland, that is to say, 60% of household users on the mainland have the ability to access gigabit broadband.
In terms of 5G, the other wing of the "double gigabit", by the end of 2021, the mainland will have built and opened a total of 1.425 million 5G base stations, built the world's largest 5G network, and achieved coverage of all prefecture-level city urban areas, more than 98% of county urban areas and 80% of townships and towns, and gradually promoted to rural areas with conditions and needs. The total number of 5G base stations in the mainland accounts for more than 60% of the world.
2) The scale of gigabit users has surged, and the Internet access rate has increased significantly
In the past 2021, the mainland gigabit broadband has experienced a spurt of growth, and the scale of users has surged.
By the end of 2021, the scale of gigabit users in the mainland will reach 34.56 million, a net increase of 28.16 million for the whole year. This means that the second phase of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's "Double Gigabit" Network Coordinated Development Action Plan (2021-2023) has been achieved two years ahead of schedule: "Gigabit broadband users will exceed 30 million households in 2023".
At the same time, the broadband rate of the fixed network is increasing rapidly, and by the end of 2021, the user access bandwidth has exceeded 250Mbit/s, which is at the forefront of the world, and the average available download rate of users has exceeded more than 60Mbit/s, an increase of 16 times over 2013.
According to Speedtest's latest January 2022 data, in terms of fixed broadband rates, from high to low, China ranked 8th, surpassing the United States, South Korea, Japan and so on.
Image source: Oriental IC
In terms of mobile broadband, with the popularization of 5G, the mobile broadband Internet access rate in the mainland has further increased. In the January 2022 data released by Speedtest, ranking from high to low, the mainland ranked 9th in the world, also at the leading level.
Write at the end. Although the "speed up and fee reduction" has not been written into the "Government Work Report" this year, the communication industry still bears extremely important responsibilities in promoting the development of the digital economy and promoting the comprehensive digital transformation of the economy, life and governance. The peak period of 5G investment will last for at least 2 years, and high investment will be required every year, and the high-quality development of the industry is already imminent.
Author/IT Times reporter Qian Lifu
Edit/Kick Girl
Typography / Ji Jiaying
Photo / Oriental IC IT Times
Source/IT Times public account vittimes
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