PRESS RELEASE: China Mobile is the world’s largest operator in terms of subscribers. According to its financial report for the first half of 2024, by June, it had deployed 2.29 million 5G base stations and promoted commercial 5G-A deployment in over 280 cities in China and its mobile subscribers had exceeded 1 billion.
China Mobile Beijing is poised to be a world-class information service technology innovation company. It launched the “5G-A Lighting Up Beijing” initiative in April this year and has brought 5G-A to multiple landmarks in Beijing, such as Chang’an Avenue, Beijing Capital International Airport, and National Olympic Sports Center. While advancing 5G-A network construction, the company is also exploring network monetization and innovative business models. On August 23, it held a 5G-A themed commercial launch conference for the world’s first “5G-A Differentiated Experience Service”, ushering in a new era of digital intelligence.
The service includes 5G-A packages for business travel, live streaming, gaming, and stadiums.
For business travelers, the 5G-A business travel package at a monthly price of USD11 provides a peak speed of 3 Gbps in the downlink and 200 Mbps in the uplink, as well as a deterministic experience of 5 Mbps on high-speed railways. This ensures smoother video conferencing, clearer images, and faster file transfer. The package also supports applications such as New Calling and cloud computers.
For live streamers, the 5G-A live streaming package at a monthly price of USD8 provides a peak speed of 2 Gbps in the downlink and 150 Mbps in the uplink, as well as a deterministic speed of 3 Mbps for uplink streaming. This will allow users to enjoy clearer images and smoother interactions in real time. The package also supports 5G New Calling functions such as calling transcription and fun calling to make live streaming more interesting.
For game players, the 5G-A gaming package at a monthly price of USD8 provides a peak speed of 2 Gbps in the downlink and 150 Mbps in the uplink, as well as a stable latency below 20 ms in high-value scenarios. This will reduce lags and ensure smoother gameplay. The package also provides professional cloud phone services and MiguPlay membership to enable gaming anywhere and anytime.
At stadiums, the 5G-A stadium package at a price of USD11 per use and with a limited valid period of four hours provides a deterministic experience of 4 Mbps in the downlink and 2 Mbps in the uplink. This allows spectators to share highlights on social media in real time while watching a sports game. Users also do not need to worry about data allowance as the package comes with 100 GB of general data.
In addition, the 5G-A differentiated experience service supports service identity icon display on devices. In addition to the “5G-A” network icon, “CMCC GoTone” and “CMCC-High-Speed-Railway VIP” are optional. This allows users to enjoy high-quality network services while customizing their service identity icons, enhancing user perception.
Since its launch in August, the 5G-A differentiated experience service has quickly gained popularity thanks to the innovative experience it enables, attracting 1,200 friendly users on its first day. It is estimated that the service will attract 100,000 users by the end of this year. By then, China Mobile Beijing’s 5G-A users will account for more than 87.5% of the total 5G-A users in Beijing, 30 percentage points higher than its share of 4G and 5G users. The service has helped China Mobile Beijing increase ARPU by more than 30%. It is estimated that the number of its subscribers will exceed 500,000 and the annual revenue will increase by more than USD8 million by 2025. According to the market forecast, the subscriber growth rate is expected to remain five times until 2026, and the payback period is less than three years. This will bring direct revenue growth, triple the number of New Calling users, and double the number of apps on cloud phones.
5G-A experience monetization poses both opportunities and challenges for global mobile communications operators. China Mobile Beijing will continue working with Huawei and other industry partners to develop innovative solutions, upgrade user experience, and explore 5G-A monetization.