In order to increase the support and guarantee of radio spectrum resources in 5G, in furtherance of covering 5G signal coverage in the remote village area. Lately, China Unicom has obtained the privilege from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of restarting the 5G system by transferring the 900MHz band in 2G/3G/4G into 5G.
The 900MHz band has the characteristic of low insertion loss, widespread coverage, high penetration, and low cost of network deployment. It is a globally recognized as the “Golden Band” of mobile networks, and it is the main frequency band in the early 2G system as well.
904-915/949-960MHz are the frequency band approved among the 5G system.
Advantages of 900MHz frequency band
900MHz was called the “golden band” likewise with the 700MHz of the China Broadnet, they both are between mid-low frequency bands in mobile communication fields. It has the characteristic of low insertion loss, widespread coverage, and high penetration as a “premium” frequency band. It is beneficial to reduce the 5G construction costs of China Unicom and to make a further step in expanding the widespread 5G coverage with low frequency bands to contract the section is not covered within 5G signal.
Mid-low frequency bands are regarded as the best frequency bands for remote village areas consistently. Afterward receiving the support of 700MHz 5G and 900MHz 5G from China Broadnet and China Unicom, it comes with a better solution on the matter of construction costs of 5G base, a low cost with excellent 5G services in return.
Operator’s frequency bands resources
Restarting the 900MHz band in 5G is an indispensable part of China Unicom’s 5G network construction.
China Unicom has 909-915MHz and 954-960MHz bands under the Sub 1GHz from the beginning, and bandwidth from upstream to downstream only has 6MHz. the 2G/3G/4G construction were been short of low band spectrum resources among each phase.
China Mobile has 889-909MHz and 934-954MHz bands, and bandwidth from upstream to downstream has 20MHz.
China Telecom has 824-835MHz and 869-880MHz bands under the Sub 1GHz, and bandwidth from upstream to downstream has 11MHz, and it has shifted from 2G and 3G to 4G network construction.
China Unicom 900MHz with China Broadnet 5G 700MHz shares the same title of “Golden Band”. And keep co-constructing and sharing with China Telecom.
Operator’s co-construction and sharing mode
Co-construction and sharing mode become the best option as the construction needs in 5G network, as well as the high-cost fees.
China Mobile signed a co-construction and sharing on 700MHz 5G contract with China Broadnet. China Broadnet has to make payment for using the 2G/4G/5G network of China Mobile, and both are investing the same proportionate amount of funds into the 700Mhz 5G network construction.
China Unicom with China Telecom co-construction and sharing on 5G network, constructing core network by oneself, and sharing 5G bands resources mode via tying networks together mutually. Both agreed on maintenance and services standards of 5G network co-construction and sharing, ensuring users received equal services on both sides.
Lately, China Unicom and China Telecom co-constructed the global largest 5G SA shared network with a total number of 967,000 5G stations has been open. At the end of last year, China Unicom and China Telecom saved investment funds of more than 210 billion yuan and saved 20 billion yuan in operating costs each year simultaneously.
China Unicom reacquires expanding on 900MHz bands of 5G network coverage compares to the advantages of 700MHz 5G network by China Mobile co-constructed with China Broadnet.