By Gong Zhe
China Broadnet, China’s fourth telecommunication operator, has formally launched 5G services.
The launch event held at the Museum of the Communist Party of China (CPC) was attended by Huang Kunming, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee.
The official website of China Broadnet, www.10099.com.cn, opened to the public on the same day. People can order new China Broadnet SIM cards on the site. The phone number will start with 192.
The website said the current commercial 5G service is still in the test phase, which means problems may occur to users, and the company won’t take responsibility for the consequences. The end date of the test phase has not been announced yet.
The company’s mobile service starts at 38 yuan (about US$6) monthly, with 10 gigabytes of data and 50 minutes of voice calling, and goes as high as 588 yuan (about US$88) with 398 GB data and 1,600 minutes of voice calling.
At this price, China Broadnet appears more cost-effective than China Mobile. But the established three carriers all offer many discounts to attract users.
The number in the website’s domain name, 10099, is also the company’s service phone number, which now provides 5G-related services.
No information about home broadband service can be found of the website as of Monday afternoon.
The service launch marks a breakthrough in the integration of national cable TV networks, and 5G integrated development and early successes in developing a new “cable plus 5G” integrated development paradigm for China’s radio and TV networks.
A key advantage of China Broadnet’s 5G is the 700 megahertz signal, which is better than the other three carriers’ services in signal strength.
Yet, the company has to build many base stations to cover the whole country. China Broadnet is cooperating with China Mobile to share base stations.
Also, the lower signal frequency will limit the max speed of China Broadnet’s 5G, which may not have a big impact on users’ choices since even 4G speed can satisfy most users for now.
With the 5G services’ launch, China Broadnet vows to speed up the development of a new-type radio and TV communication network, a national cultural network, and a national, new-type infrastructure network.
The company has rebranded as its current name and launched phone number reservations in early June.
China Broadnet was granted a 5G license for commercial use in 2019.
(With input from Xinhua. Cover via China Broadnet.)
