The number of 5G package users exceeds the shipment of 5G mobile phones. Are you ＂5G＂？

　　BEIJING, June 17 (Reporter Wu Tao) Recently, it was reported that China Unicom forced users to activate the use of 5G cards, and consumers felt that they had been 5G. What happened?

China ICT Institute announced the shipment and proportion of 5G mobile phones. screenshot

　　Phenomenon: The number of 5G package users exceeds the shipment of 5G mobile phones.

　　Recently, the reporter compared the data released by the three major operators and some authoritative organizations, such as China ICT Institute, and found some strange phenomena, such as the number of users of 5G packages exceeding the shipment of 5G mobile phones, the data of 5G users released by operators is different from that released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and so on.

　　According to the data of China ICT Institute, from January to April 2020, the cumulative shipment of 5G mobile phones in the domestic market was 30.441 million, and 65 new models were listed, accounting for 33.6% and 47.4% respectively.

　　In the whole year of 2019, the domestic mobile phone market shipped 389 million units, including 13.769 million 5G mobile phones. In other words, by the end of April, the cumulative shipment of 5G mobile phones in the domestic market was 44.21 million.

　　Let’s take a look at the user data of 5G packages announced by operators.

　　According to the data disclosed by China Mobile, by the end of April, the number of users of China Mobile’s 5G package was 43.745 million. There are 21.7 million users of China Telecom’s 5G package. After the combination of the two, the number of 5G package users exceeds 65 million. China Unicom has not separately disclosed the number of 5G users.

　　In addition, on May 25th, Miao Wei, Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that more than 10,000 5G base stations were added every week, and the number of 5G users increased by more than 7 million in April alone, with a total of more than 36 million. The number of 36 million 5G users and the number of 5G package users announced by the three major operators are also far from each other.

Number of users of 5G packages announced by China Telecom. screenshot

　　Even if you use a 5G terminal once, is it a 5G user?

　　How are these 5G users counted? At present, there is no authoritative definition about the difference between 5G users and 5G package users. According to the understanding of many consumers, only users who normally use the 5G network are considered as 5G users.

　　Some analysts believe that the number of users of 5G packages exceeds the shipment of 5G mobile phones. One possibility is that users are using 4G mobile phones, but they have handled 5G packages; Another possibility is that a large number of 5G mobile phone users use dual-card dual standby, and both numbers use 5G packages.

　　However, at present, the price of 5G packages is on the high side, and the unit price of 5G traffic in most packages is also higher than that of 4G traffic. If you don’t use 5G mobile phones, you won’t enjoy the 5G network speed even if you handle the 5G package. Will some users do this?

　　In addition, it is understood that many users are using 5G mobile phones now, but they are still using 4G packages, not to mention the 5G packages with two cards.

　　Another possibility is that China Telecom’s customer service told the reporter of Zhongxin.com that "using a 5G terminal is a 5G user." At present, the reporter himself is also counted as a 5G user by China Telecom, but in fact, "I still use the 4G package, only occasionally using the 5G mobile phone for a few days."

　　China Telecom customer service explained that there is a 5G terminal under your number, so you are a 5G user by default.

Data map: The arrival of the 5G era. Zhongxin. com Wu Tao photo

　　Some users reported being forced to activate 5 G.

　　In the investigation, the reporter found that another reason may be that the 5G card has been set up, but it has not been activated. This part may also be counted.

　　On the 15th, some media reported that Mr. Zhang, who lives in Beijing, handled a "5G+ Broadband" convergence package of Beijing Unicom and paid the monthly rent of the package in full on schedule. However, because he did not activate the 5G mobile phone card in the package, he was cut off from broadband by Beijing Unicom for a week.

　　Beijing Unicom said that this was in line with the agreement, but Mr. Zhang’s broadband was subsequently restored. Are these users counted as 5G users? The reporter contacted the relevant person in charge of China Unicom. As of press time, no response has been received.

　　It is understood that the package of mobile number and broadband service is more popular at present, and operators are all doing broadband to send mobile phone numbers and packages (or understanding it as doing new number access service to send broadband).

　　Interestingly, the monthly rent of the above-mentioned integrated package is 166 yuan, and the total monthly rent of the two rights included is higher than that of 300 yuan, but even so, Beijing Unicom prefers users to purchase and activate the 5G card.

　　Fu Liang, an independent telecom analyst, believes that Beijing Unicom can’t rely on this method to get reasonable income. It can only be said that it has increased the number of illusory 5G users. Such packages are unreasonable and there are some problems in design ideas.