Wen Ku, director of the Information and Communications Development Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that building 5G does not mean the retreat of 4G. 4G networks can still be used for at least 10 years.

Recently, an article about "4G networks are slowing down" has caused heated discussions. The article stated that operators are secretly reducing the speed of 4G networks in order to promote 5G, and the order to slow down comes from the "Ministry of Industry and Information Technology". In this regard, on August 22, Wen Ku, director of the Information and Communications Development Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, was interviewed by a reporter from the Beijing News.

Wenku said that this was fabricated out of thin air and that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology would never issue such an order. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has never required operators to reduce or limit 4G network speeds before and will not require them in the future. The construction of 5G network does not mean the retreat of 4G network, and 4G network can be used for at least 10 years.

However, he believes that 4G network speeds will indeed drop in some places, especially in places with a large number of people, such as train stations, subways, concerts and other user-intensive areas. User 4G network experience rate is affected by many factors. For example, the throughput of each base station is fixed. The more users in the same place and at the same time, the average traffic per user will be relatively less, which puts huge pressure on the base station. In addition, congestion caused by excessive website visits, traffic usage of the "speed limit" package reaching the speed limit threshold, network maintenance and transformation in individual places, etc. will also affect the user experience rate within a certain period of time and scope.

According to him, the latest monitoring data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology shows that the national average 4G download speed has continued to increase steadily in recent years, reaching 23.78Mbps in July 2019. Overall, there has been no significant decrease in speed. At the same time, he also revealed that he had interviewed the three major operators on August 22 and asked the operators to conduct self-examinations to see whether they had issued such orders. At the same time, operating companies will be guided to actively expand and upgrade networks.

Why do some users feel that 4G is slowing down?

Base station throughput, volume-limited speed packages, etc. will affect network speed

Beijing News: Recently, there are rumors on the Internet that "in order to promote 5G, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology requires operators to limit the reduction of 4G network speeds." What has the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology done about this?

Wenku: This is something made out of nothing. It is absolutely impossible for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to issue such an order. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has never required relevant operators to reduce or limit 4G network speeds before and will not require them in the future. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will further strengthen the supervision of operating companies and effectively safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology attaches great importance to this, and today (August 22) called the three major operators for interviews.

Beijing News: Has the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology tested whether the current 4G network speed has dropped?

News Library: In the early stage, our Ministry guided the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology to build a monitoring platform covering 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) across the country to monitor 4G network speeds through technical means. Currently, the number of monitoring samples per quarter has exceeded 71 million. Monitoring data shows that the national average 4G download speed has continued to increase steadily in recent years, reaching 23.78Mbps in July 2019. Overall, there has been no significant decrease in speed.

Beijing News: Why do many users report that they “feel that the 4G network speed has dropped”?

Wenku: In fact, in some places, there will be a feeling of reduced 4G network speed, especially in places with a large number of people, such as train stations, subways, concerts and other user-intensive areas. There may be a temporary drop in experience speed caused by too many users. Because the throughput of the base station itself is certain, users at the same location and at the same timeThe higher the number, the less traffic each user receives on average. Users in the above locations lower their heads to watch programs while waiting for the bus. In this case, the traffic usage is particularly large, which puts huge pressure on the base station.

Beijing News: What factors will affect 4G network speed?

News Library: Users’ 4G network experience rate is affected by many factors. From a technical perspective, the 4G network is a shared network. All users accessing the same base station share the bandwidth resources of the base station. There is no situation where a single user monopolizes a specific bandwidth and rate. The user rate will fluctuate within a range. From the perspective of user numbers, as 2G/3G users accelerate their migration to 4G, as of July 2019, the number of 4G users in my country reached 1.24 billion, accounting for 78.3% of mobile phone users.

Beijing News: In addition, what other factors lead to the "feeling of slowdown"? Is the large-volume package launched by the operator one of the factors?

Wenku: In addition to the above factors, excessive website visits cause congestion, the traffic usage of the "speed limit" package reaches the speed limit threshold, and network maintenance and transformation in individual places will also affect the user experience rate within a certain time and scope.

Beijing News: Previously, experts analyzed that with the advancement of speed increases and fee reductions, many people are more willing to use mobile phone data instead of WiFi, resulting in excessive use of 4G data and putting greater pressure on base stations, further making users feel that 4G is slowing down. Do you agree with this statement?

Wenku: From a traffic perspective, the rapid development of video services in recent years has put forward higher requirements for network capabilities; at the same time, operators have successively launched large-traffic packages to attract users, further releasing user traffic needs. Statistics show that the average household mobile Internet access traffic (DOU) in 2018 was 4.42GB, and in July this year, the DOU reached 8.33GB, an increase of nearly 100%, which has put greater pressure on the 4G network.

As I just said, the throughput of the base station itself is certain. The more users there are at the same place and at the same time, the average traffic per user will be relatively less. Especially when users are watching programs while waiting for trains, the traffic used in this case is particularly large, which puts huge pressure on the base station.

However, from a nationwide perspective, the probability of everyone using 4G is relatively equal. Therefore, judging from the entire large network test, the overall 4G speed has not declined, but has increased slightly.

Beijing News: How to solve the above-mentioned "traffic jam" problem?

News Library: In order to solve this problem, operators must carry out network expansion and upgrades, such as increasing base station construction, increasing the number of carriers, and adopting new technologies, such as 3D-MIMO, to improve user experience.

How to restrict operators?

Interviewing operators to require self-examination

Beijing News: What requirements did the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology make to interview operators?

News Library: First, make it clear that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will never issue a notice to reduce the 4G speed, and it has never thought about it, not only in the head, but also in the heel. We have been emphasizing speed increases and fee reductions. How can we hit the brakes during a period of comprehensive speed increases? The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology emphasizes that it is necessary to strengthen the supervision of operating companies and effectively safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of consumers; secondly, for the three major operating companies, we require them to conduct self-examination in response to the situation spread online, check whether the group company has issued such an order, and whether the company has done such a thing, and increase inspections of the networkWe must conduct testing, increase network maintenance and management, and respond seriously to people’s usage to ensure the smooth flow of the 4G network.

Beijing News: How will the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology respond to the increasing pressure on 4G networks?

News Library: This year’s government work report proposes to promote the expansion and upgrading of mobile networks so that users can truly experience faster and more stable network speeds. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology resolutely implements national decisions and arrangements, and works with relevant departments and industries to advance various tasks to meet the people's growing urgent demand for information and communication technology. In this regard, we will take three measures: first, continue to promote network speed increase and fee reduction; second, guide operators to actively carry out network expansion and upgrade; third, coordinate the coordinated development of 4G and 5G.

Beijing News: How to guide operators to actively carry out network expansion and upgrades?

News Library: Faced with the huge pressure brought by the rapid development of mobile Internet services on 4G networks, operators are actively promoting the application of new technologies and improving network capacity by introducing new technologies such as carrier aggregation and 3D-MIMO (under 3-carrier dual-stream conditions, the peak downlink rate of the base station can reach 450Mbps). At the same time, we will accelerate the extension of content distribution networks (CDN) to the edge of the network to achieve nearby access to Internet information sources and improve users’ online experience. In addition, it is necessary to add base stations to areas with poor coverage. Add some small base stations in some densely populated areas to increase the traffic capacity. For some places where there is neither frequency nor base station, a 3D-MIMO antenna can be added, which can increase a lot of traffic.

Beijing News: How to continue to promote network speed improvement and fee reduction?

News Library: In May 2019, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission issued a notice on "Carrying out the 2019 Special Action to Deeply Promote Broadband Network Speed ​​Up and Reduction and Support High-Quality Economic Development" to further improve 4G network coverage for traffic hotspots and weak coverage areas such as subways, schools, hospitals, and large venues. We will deepen the pilot of universal telecommunications services, support the construction of 4G base stations in rural and remote areas, and achieve 4G coverage in 98% of administrative villages across the country ahead of schedule.

Does 5G construction have any impact on 4G?

There is no need to downgrade 4G after 5G is built

Beijing News: Recent network rumors claim that the 4G network will be slowed down due to 5G construction. Is this necessary?

News Library: There is no need to dismantle 4G or limit 4G speed after building 5G. The construction of 5G network does not mean the withdrawal of 4G network. While building 5G networks, we still need to increase the construction of 4G networks. We currently need to increase the construction and coverage of 4G networks in some remote rural areas.

We will coordinate the coordinated development of 4G and 5G. As an important component of mobile communication networks, 4G will coexist with 5G networks for a long time. At present, 5G network construction and development has only started this year. It will take several years to build a nationwide network like 4G, and it will not be achieved in at least four to five years. As of July 2019, the scale of my country's 4G base stations has exceeded 4.56 million, ranking first in the world in network scale and with the highest density. Therefore, the 4G network is a very good basic operation network, and 5G is a further step forward on this basic network.

While we are utilizing the high-speed and large-bandwidth characteristics of 5G to channelize 4G network traffic, we are also continuing to do a good job in the operation, maintenance and transformation of 4G, using both 4G and 5G to ensure user experience.

Beijing News: How many years can the 4G network be used?

News library: 4The G network can still be used for at least 10 years. The previous 2G has been in operation for 20 years and is still in use.

Written by this edition/Beijing News trainee reporter Xu Nuo Cheng Zijiao