Shulou(Shulou.com)06/03 Report--

At the recent RAN#88e plenary meeting, 3GPP announced that the RAN6 working group responsible for GERAN and UTRAN wireless and protocol work was officially closed. The RAN6 working group, which has just been closed, has been responsible for studying 2G and 3G wireless functions and defining specifications and interfaces related to GSM/EDGE wireless access network (GERAN) and UMTS wireless access network (UTRAN).

This also means that the withdrawal of 2G/3G, which has attracted much attention from the industry, has no way back from the level of standards development of the International Standards Organization.

The end of an era in the mobile communication industry

It is understood that the second generation mobile communication system (2G) has effectively transferred from analog communication to digital communication. Since the 1990s, 2G with digital technology as the main body has developed and become the largest mobile communication network in the world at that time.

In 1998, standard-setting organizations from Europe, China, Japan, Korea and North America jointly established 3GPP (third Generation partner Organization) to jointly develop detailed standards for next-generation mobile communication networks (3G); at the same time, 3GPP also accepted the work of maintaining and continuing to develop GSM specifications. The project has successfully promoted the evolution of 2G to 3G and successfully achieved the global popularity of 3G.

3GPP pointed out at the RAN#88e plenary meeting: although 2G and 3G are still in use, it is time for standards organizations to focus on next-generation mobile technology!

This time 3GPP announced the official closure of the RAN6 working group responsible for the wireless and protocol work of GERAN and UTRAN, which also means that 2G and 3G technologies are no longer being developed, which marks the end of an important era in the mobile communications industry. What's more, the industry calls for the withdrawal of 2G/3G for many years and there is no longer a way back at the standard development level.

The conditions of 2G/3G withdrawal are gradually mature.

From a technical point of view, compared with the old 2G/3G technology that has served the world for 20 or 30 years, 4G/5G has higher spectrum efficiency, lower cost per bit, faster network speed, better user experience and more possibilities for business innovation. Moreover, in the 5G era when high-quality spectrum resources are extremely scarce, once the 2G/3G clears the frequency and withdraws the network, the original frequency band vacated will contribute to the large-scale and low-cost deployment of the 5G network.

From the operational level, for many operators in the world, such as the three major operators in China, who have to face the coexistence of 2G/3G/4G/5G multi-generation networks, 2G/3G frequency cancellation will make them pay more attention to the construction of more valuable 5G networks.

It can be seen that no matter from the general trend of technological development or the reality of operators, the withdrawal of 2G/3G is just around the corner. Before the announcement of the 3GPP, more than 100 operators around the world have planned or implemented 2G and 3G withdrawal from the network, including Japan, South Korea, India, Europe and other countries or regions. Operators have already begun or announced plans to shut down the 2G/3G network in order to prepare for 5G.

In China, the competent authorities have also made clear their attitude towards the withdrawal of 2G/3G. On October 22, 2019, Wen Ku, director of the Information and Communication Development Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, made it clear that the withdrawal of 2G and 3G is the inevitable choice for the upgrading of mobile communications, and it is also the main practice of various countries in the world at present. At present, the conditions for China's mobile communication networks 2G and 3G to withdraw from the network have gradually matured.

With regard to the application field of the Internet of things involved in the withdrawal of 2G/3G, the notice on further promoting the all-round Development of Mobile Animal networking issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology points out that it will promote the business migration of 2G/3G Internet of things and establish an integrated ecosystem of Mobile Animal networking with the coordinated development of NB-IoT (narrowband Internet of things), 4G (including LTE-Cat1, that is, 4G network of rate category 1) and 5G. And for the first time explicitly guide the new Internet of things terminals no longer use the 2G/3G network, promote the existing 2G/3G Internet of things business to NB-IoT/4G (Cat1) / 5G network migration.

At the same time, the three major domestic operators have already made plans in advance in the consumer-oriented 2G/3G withdrawal network. It is reported that China Mobile has promoted 2G frequency reduction and 3G withdrawal, accelerating the coordinated development of 4G/5G; China Unicom is promoting the withdrawal of 2G from the network in some areas, and encouraging 2G users to upgrade to 4G, using 2G spectrum for 4G/5G development; China Telecom is promoting the withdrawal of CDMA, gradually moving 2G voice business to VoLTE, and requiring 5G terminals to no longer support CDMA.

Clear frequency unnetting is not achieved overnight

However, as 3GPP said, the closure of the RAN6 working group marks the end of an era in the mobile communications industry, but it does not mean that 2G and 3G networks will be completely out of history. They will still maintain as needed, but no longer develop and evolve. As 4G evolves to 5G, we know that the GERAN and UTRAN standards and the core networks behind them are completely stable and can continue to be used if needed.

In other words, although the general trend of 2G/3G clear frequency unnetting has been irreversible, the clear frequency unnetting work can never be achieved overnight. At least three steps are required for 2G/3G to clear the frequency and unnetting:

The first step is to stop developing 2G/3G users.

The second step is to migrate the existing 2G and 3G users to the 4G/5G network as soon as possible.

The third step is to clear the frequency completely.

In the process of withdrawing 2G/3G frequency, operators may face the following three major challenges:

Challenge 1: the cost of migrating stock 2G/3G users to 4G/5G networks. It is not difficult to stop developing 2G/3G users, as long as you stop adding new users on the terminal side and tariff packages; but if you migrate existing 2G and 3G users to the new 4G/5G network, replacing mobile terminals and tariff packages will inevitably increase costs. How to reduce the cost of changing phones and packages as far as possible, and how to protect the interests of users, really test the wisdom of operators.

Challenge 2: the use of smartphones by elderly phone users. At present, there are about 273 million 2G users on the Internet in China, of which a considerable number may be elderly users. Some elderly people only use functional phones (non-smartphones) and are not familiar with the new features and usage of smartphones, so it is very difficult to operate. How to develop smartphones that are suitable for the elderly who are not good at complex operations is also a huge challenge that operators 2G/3G have to face when they withdraw from the network.

Challenge 3: thoroughly clear the user experience before withdrawing from the network. Although the 5G era has begun, in a small number of remote areas where the 4G/5G network is not yet covered, it is also critical to ensure the basic communication experience of users before 2G/3G frequency clearing and withdrawal, which is also the requirement of telecom universal service. Therefore, the 2G/3G clear frequency network must not be cut across the board, but need to be carried out step by step in different regions and stages.

Source of this article: C114 communication network

Welcome to subscribe "Shulou Technology Information " to get latest news, interesting things and hot topics in the IT industry, and controls the hottest and latest Internet news, technology news and IT industry trends.