Operator AT&T officially announces the end of 2G network services

AT&T officially bid farewell to the 2G era. Recently, AT&T official website released news, called the release of spectrum for new technologies, AT&T stopped providing services for 2G networks on January 1, 2017. Five years ago, the company had planned to stop 2G services in 2017.

Compared with 2G networks, users and applications have become less and less. By contrast, AT&T's data traffic in 3G/4G has increased by 2,500 times since 2007. AT&T plans to release more spectrum for future network technologies, including 5G, by shutting down 2G networks, and plans to reuse those spectrums on 4G networks in the coming months. AT&T's GSM network mainly uses the 850MHz frequency band, and deploying a communication network in this frequency band can greatly save operators' network construction costs.

Operator AT&T officially announces the end of 2G network services

Re-cultivating GSM low-band spectrum resources for 4G networks is also a common aspiration of global operators. In China, China Telecom (Weibo) and China Unicom (Weibo) have announced the re-farming plan for low-band spectrum resources, and the resources originally used for 2G and 3G networks are used for 4G construction to save investment.

However, unlike mainstream international operators, "the allocation of spectrum resources abroad is mainly the market-based mode of auction system, but the domestic distribution system", an industry insider said: "The result is now more and more difficult to recycle and redistribute. It is only possible for operators to re-cultivate. The backwardness of the allocation of spectrum resources is the core issue at present."

2G is difficult to retreat

In China, operators have never publicly talked about when to shut down 2G networks, but the spectrum of 2G networks has been put on the agenda.

As early as the end of 2015, Shandong Unicom network optimization staff told reporters: "There are very few 2G users, basically only remote towns, mountains and some users, so many 2G base stations have stopped, and spectrum resources have begun to be used to do 4G. It is."

In June 2016, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a document, authorizing China Unicom to deploy 4G networks in 900MHz in 14 provinces and cities, and approved China Telecom to deploy 4G networks in the 800MHz band. Among them, China Unicom's 900MHz spectrum was originally used for 2G networks.

Subsequently, in December 2016, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a document “Responding to the approval of China United Communications Group Co., Ltd. to adjust some frequencies for LTE networking”, and approved China Unicom to use 2G and 3G spectrum resources for 4G networks and adjust China Unicom 900MHz. 1800MHz and 2100MHz are used for 4G networking and are allowed to be deployed nationwide. At the same time, China Telecom also announced that it will achieve full coverage of the 800MHz 4G network in 2017.

In addition, China Mobile (Weibo) began to promote VoLTE construction and significantly promote low-cost VoLTE terminals at the end of 2015. It plans to reduce the price of VoLTE terminals directly from 1,500 yuan to 399 yuan, which is intended to get rid of China Mobile's 4G voice service. The dependence of 2G network, according to insiders: "After the completion of VoLTE, China Mobile can complete the migration of most 2G users to 4G by the end of 2017. As long as the policy allows, 2G can withdraw from the network and re-cultivate at any time."

At present, China Mobile has more than 1.5 million 4G base stations, while China Telecom and China Unicom are 860,000 and 700,000 respectively. If China Mobile can make full use of the 900MHz digital dividend and deploy 4G networks at a lower cost, then China Telecom and China Unicom, which are in a weak position, will have a much smaller gap with China Mobile. Perhaps due to the consideration of balancing the market competition, China Mobile’s 2G network has not been put on the agenda.

“In fact, this way of re-cultivation has already been ahead of the regulatory process.” The above-mentioned insiders said that it is completely in line with the regulatory process. It should first shut down the 2G business, and then the state recycles the spectrum originally allocated to the 2G network. Redistribution, "But if you do this, 2G will definitely never be able to retreat, because the three operators are not able to return the spectrum in their hands. This will cause a huge waste of spectrum resources and hinder the development of the communications industry. Therefore, they can only compromise each other. ,compromise."

It should be pointed out that due to the technical defects of the 2G network, the false base station fraud is high, and it is repeatedly prohibited. Therefore, the industry's call for shutting down 2G networks is getting higher.

Distribution reform

The limitations of spectrum allocation are most evident in the original 700M.

In the last century, the domestic 700MHz was allocated to radio stations in various provinces, cities and counties to carry analog broadcast television signals. Later, with the advancement of technology, analog TV was gradually digitized, and most of the 700MHz spectrum resources were gradually idle, and the redistribution of 700M began to be heated. In 2007, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) ITU re-planned 700MHz, and plans to release part of the frequency resources for future mobile communications, so 700MHz is also known as the "digital dividend."

However, the transition time from analog TV to digital TV has been continuously delayed and has been extended to 2020. This means that when 5G is commercialized, 700MHz will still be used for the analog TV service that should be eliminated. According to the radio and television system plan, 700MHz will be used to build a video transmission network. Although this has not been approved by the regulatory authorities, the pilot has steadily advanced.

"Everyone knows the importance of spectrum resources. After free access from the state, no one wants to take it out again, and they will continue to hold it in the name of 'there are users still in the network'." The aforementioned industry insiders said: "Not just radio and television. The same is true for operators on PHS. The spectrum of 10M is always left unattended. In essence, this is a problem caused by the lag of resource allocation."

Today, this problem is constraining the development of NB-IoT.

NB-IoT is regarded as the blue ocean market of the telecommunications industry. Ericsson, Huawei and Nokia have all launched relatively mature NB-IoT solutions, and domestic operators have started pilot projects. However, the spectrum resources of NB-IoT are never allocated.

A communications manufacturer told reporters: "At present, the vendors' solutions are basically deployed at 900MHz, which is now on the 2G network. However, operators want to build 4G networks at 900MHz, and do not want to use such a good resource to build the Internet of Things. In fact, although the three major operator groups regard "Internet of Everything" as their core strategy, according to the insiders of the operators: "There are many people in the operator who do not know what NB-IoT is and it is difficult to achieve. Consistent."

According to a person close to the regulatory authorities: "Before, the Radio Management Committee had a red-headed document, planning 821MHz~824MHz as the uplink of NB-IoT, and planning the 866MHz~869MHz as the downlink, but not assigned to the operator, but The operator will apply and the basic application will be given."

This kind of distribution method not only avoids the interests and disputes of the three major operators, but also completes the task of supporting the development of NB-IoT. However, unlike the smooth upgrade of 900MHz, the use of this band requires re-establishment of the network. "So, the three do not want this band."

In August 2016, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the “National Radio Management Plan (2016-2020)”, which clearly proposed to establish a scientific and rational spectrum use assessment and frequency recovery mechanism, and to develop a spectrum suitable for China's national conditions and market environment and reflecting the characteristics of different categories of applications. Resource marketization strategies and programs. Subsequently, on November 25, 2016, the State Council revised for the first time the "Regulations on Radio Management of the People's Republic of China" that had been in operation for 23 years, and listed the bidding and auction methods of the spectrum as one of the distribution methods.

"From the perspective of the 13th Five-Year Plan, the country has begun to reform the spectrum allocation method." The above-mentioned approaching regulators said: "It is already under discussion. In the 5G era, we will try to reform the market-oriented mode and re-define the allocation of spectrum resources."

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