Image source: China Mobile (Shanghai) official website
Unicom broadband advertisement posted in the elevator of a residential area in Pudong. Photo by Ma Yunfei
Photo by Cai Shumin
"Dear mobile users, we have noticed that your current package has reached the standard of giving away 200M broadband for free. I don't know if you are willing to install mobile broadband? " After receiving "greetings" from the customer service staff of Shanghai Mobile for four times in a month, Zhang Ying (pseudonym), as an old mobile user in his 10 years old, gradually became interested and finally signed up as one of the 2.602 million new broadband users of China Mobile recently.
In late July, China Mobile disclosed the June operation data of 202 1. The number of cable broadband users in that month increased by 2.602 million compared with that in May. By the end of June, the total number of fixed-line broadband users in China reached 225.599 million. On the same day, China Telecom, which has been engaged in broadband business for a long time, also released the operation data of June 20021year. In terms of cable broadband services, in June, the number of cable broadband users of China Telecom increased by 654.38+0.06 million, bringing the total number of cable broadband users to 654.38+0.645.438+0 billion. In contrast, China Unicom lags behind China Mobile and China Telecom. By the end of June, the fixed-line broadband users of China Unicom had reached 90 1.23 million.
In fact, compared with the old full-service operation qualifications of China Unicom and China Telecom, China Mobile obtained the fixed-line broadband license on February 7th, 2003. However, thanks to the far-ahead number of basic users, China Mobile adopted a mixed style of "price war" and "subsidy war", which lasted only five years. 20 18, 1 1, subverting the pattern of the top two broadband companies, completely surpassing the "big brother" China Telecom and becoming a "head player".
On July 20th, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology disclosed a set of data in "Economic Operation of Communication Industry in the First Half of 2002/KLOC-0": By the end of June, the total number of fixed Internet broadband access users of three basic telecommunications enterprises had reached 5 1 10,000, a net increase of 26.06 million over the end of last year. Among them, there are 466 million fixed Internet broadband access users with access rate of 100Mbps or above, accounting for 9 1.5% of the total number of users.
"Judging from the number of households in China, 5 1 10,000 households means that the fixed-line broadband market in China is basically saturated." Liu Qicheng, an expert in communication industry, told the reporter of International Finance News that the broadband market has entered the stock market from the original incremental market, and the three major operators are robbing each other of users. Among various means, "price war" is still the most direct.
The "price war" still exists
In order to further compete for broadband users, operators have tried their best, and "price war" is one of them. However, in the eyes of the industry, broadband competition is not only the competition of tariffs, but also all-round, such as network quality and localization service ability.
The reporter of International Finance News visited the offline outlets of Shanghai operators many times as consumers in the past week and found that the industry has entered the "Red Sea" competition, and the price is still the key to the battle for broadband users.
When the reporter indicated that he wanted to handle the broadband service, the staff of Shanghai Mobile Business Hall first recommended the monthly rental package of 38 yuan to the reporter, including the traffic and talking minutes, and gave away 200M broadband 12 months. /kloc-After 0/2 months, if you want to continue to use broadband, you should attach a 20 yuan every month. If you need to upgrade to 300M, 500M or 1000M, when the reporter said that he was not a Shanghai mobile user and only bought broadband service, the staff said that if you only handle broadband, you need 100 yuan for installation, and the annual broadband fee is 480 yuan (40 yuan/month). If he does it for two years at a time, it will be 360 yuan/year (30 yuan/month). In addition, he also needs to pay 260 yuan's equipment deposit, which can only be refunded after the broadband is returned.
The staff suggested that consumers can apply for a new Shanghai mobile phone number. He said, "This is a real discount. There is no installation fee and no deposit."
Just like mobile, it is more cost-effective to handle the converged package in China Telecom and China Unicom than single broadband. According to the staff of Shanghai Unicom, if only broadband services are handled, the annual price of 300M broadband is 580 yuan, the price of 500M is 900 yuan/year, and the price of 1000M is 1.300 yuan/year. The above price includes the adjustment fee for optical cats. However, if you apply for a converged package, you can get 300M broadband when you spend 59 yuan, 500M broadband when you spend 159 yuan, and 1000M broadband when you spend 229 yuan. Consumers will have to pay an additional installation fee of 100 yuan.
Cheng Xing (pseudonym), who has now settled in Shanghai, is a mobile user in Jiangsu. According to Cheng Xing's statement to reporters, she uses the broadband of Shanghai Unicom at home, and Shanghai Unicom has frequently recommended preferential packages to her recently. On the basis of using Shanghai Unicom broadband, she can apply for a new number, and the monthly rental package only needs 0.0 1 yuan. "This is really cost-effective. My mobile phone is originally dual-card dual-standby, so I plan to apply for a number of Shanghai Unicom recently. "
In contrast, China Telecom, which has the widest business coverage, has no advantage in terms of tariffs. Compared with the broadband package with the same rate, the telecom price is higher than other operators.
"If you only deal with broadband, the price of 100M is 1200 yuan/year, 200M is 1700 yuan/year, 300M is 2200 yuan/year, 500M is 2600 yuan/year, and 1000M is 3000 yuan. According to the price provided by the staff of Shanghai Telecom Business Hall, it is more cost-effective to handle the integration package. " For example, consumers apply for a 229 yuan convergence package, which includes 1000M broadband on the basis of traffic and voice, and the preferential price for one year is 2549 yuan. However, the installation fee of 150 yuan is required to handle the telecom convergence package, because the package will give away another router. "
It is noteworthy that although the price is significantly higher than that of China Mobile and China Unicom, the reporter learned during the interview that China Telecom still has a group of loyal fans. Many users who use telecom broadband told reporters that telecom is expensive. Li Hua (pseudonym) is the second landlord in Shanghai, and the broadband provided to tenants is from Shanghai Telecom. In his view, the infrastructure construction of China Telecom is more perfect. According to the data provided by Shanghai Telecom, at present, its "Gigabit Optical Network" coverage in Shanghai has reached 100%, and the average rate of home broadband is 291m.
"Now broadband competition is not only the competition of tariffs, but also all-round, such as network quality, localization service ability, responsiveness and timeliness to customer needs, and comprehensive service ability of home informationization. China Telecom's comprehensive competitiveness in broadband is still good. " Qian Lifu, an observer in the communications industry, told reporters.
In addition, some users told reporters that mobile broadband is unstable and will be frequently dropped. In response to this problem, the staff of Shanghai Mobile Business Hall explained that it might be a router problem and suggested that consumers replace a router with a slightly better quality.
"There are many reasons for the instability of broadband, which may be equipment problems or related to the environment of the community." Liu Qicheng told reporters that China Mobile entered the broadband market late. Although it developed rapidly, it was not as ingrained as its competitors.
The overall pattern has been set.
In terms of broadband, the overall pattern of the three major operators has not changed much at present, mainly due to the competition between China Mobile and China Telecom. Now, the two companies are crossing the mobile business and fixed-line broadband business, leaving little room for China Unicom.
Indeed, according to the financial report, as the first enterprise in China to start building Internet broadband, China Telecom's broadband revenue ratio is significantly higher than that of China Mobile and China Unicom.
In early March, China Telecom disclosed its 2020 financial report. The data shows that, as a long-term broadband service provider, China Telecom's broadband revenue in the reporting period was 710.90 billion yuan, which was 3.487 billion yuan higher than 68.410.30 billion yuan in 20 19, accounting for/kloc-0.27% of the total annual revenue. In addition, the increase of broadband income accounts for nearly 1/5 of the increase of main business income.
Broadband revenue is also an important growth pole of mobile revenue in China. As the largest broadband operator in China, in 2020, China Mobile's broadband revenue, which contributed 10.52%, was 80.8 billion yuan, an increase of 17.38% compared with 68.835 billion yuan in 20 19, and the growth amount even reached 65,438+.
At present, broadband users obviously lag behind the other two major operators, China Unicom, and their revenue structure accounts for 14% of fixed-line broadband revenue. The 2020 annual report shows that the revenue of China Unicom increased by 2.4% year-on-year to 42.56 billion yuan, accounting for 7.5% of the total revenue increase.
"In terms of broadband, the overall pattern of the three major operators has not changed much. Mainly the competition between China Mobile and China Telecom. Now these two companies are the cross-entry of mobile services and fixed-line broadband services, leaving little room for Unicom. " Fu Liang, an analyst in the telecommunications industry, believes that the surge of mobile broadband services in China comes from the sustained high-speed growth of its broadband users, mainly due to the penetration of its powerful mobile users. The data shows that in 2020, the number of mobile home broadband customers in China will reach 654.38+92 million, with a net increase of 206.5438+03 million, far exceeding China Unicom and China Telecom, ranking first in the industry.
"In the whole year of 2020, China's fixed-line broadband users increased by 34.27 million, and from the situation in the first half of 2002/KLOC-0, the net increase in the first half was 26.06 million, exceeding the net increase in the first half of last year." In Qian Lifu's view, "the next competition of operators is all-round, including broadband quality, service and tariff. Now the obvious trend is that after nearly two years of preparation, the growth of high-speed broadband users represented by Gigabit is more obvious, which will be the new focus of competition among operators, and strive for these high-value users to further enhance broadband ARPU (the average monthly business income contributed by each user). "
It is worth mentioning that China Mobile's broadband ARPU ranks at the bottom.
In 2020, China Mobile Home Broadband Integrated ARPU will increase by 6.9% to 37.7 yuan, but it is still lower than China Telecom and China Unicom. At the end of April, in the prospectus of A-share listing, China Telecom said that the development of smart home business has effectively promoted the steady improvement of broadband integrated ARPU, which will reach 44.4 yuan in 2020, up 4.2% year-on-year. In the same reporting period, this indicator of China Unicom also surpassed that of 40 yuan, reaching 4 1.5 yuan.
In Fu Liang's view, it is understandable that China Mobile's broadband ARPU is low. Because the broadband services of China Telecom and China Unicom developed earlier, they already have a group of old users, while the services of China Mobile developed later. In order to develop new users, people have adopted "price war" and other ways to increase the number of broadband users.
The next growth pole
Facing the era of stock competition, convergence will be the general idea of the next operator industry. According to Fu Liang's speculation, in the future, the previous competition of broadband operators will gradually move from single to diversified, and there will be some content bundles of rights and interests.
In the interview, the reporter also found that some communities in Shanghai can only install broadband from a certain operator. For example, a certain district in Pudong where the reporter lives can only install Shanghai Telecom's broadband, while Shanghai Mobile and Shanghai Unicom have not yet provided services. Another user feedback, their own community can install Shanghai Unicom, Shanghai Telecom broadband, Shanghai Mobile has not yet entered.
In response to this situation, some insiders told reporters that operators provide broadband services in residential areas. Because they need to put the computer room, this needs the approval of the residential property. Therefore, some communities can only choose one or two operators to install broadband. One reason is that operators have not expanded their business to these communities, and another reason may be that broadband monopoly is involved and property is not allowed to enter.
What are the development directions of broadband services for operators in the era of broadband market stock? Some analysts believe that breaking the broadband monopoly is one of the ways. However, in Liu Qicheng's view, it is difficult for operators to break the community monopoly by themselves, and it needs the help of local governments such as the Housing and Construction Bureau.
In addition, according to a number of industry insiders, next, the era of demographic dividend and traffic dividend in the development of broadband services of operators may gradually drift away, and the cable broadband services of operators are developing in the direction of integration and coordination.
"Convergence will be the general idea of the next carrier industry, and China Mobile is no exception. By providing users with mobike and video services and smart home services, the stickiness of broadband users will be further enhanced. " Qian Lifu said that according to the recommended materials of China Mobile's 2020 financial report, from 20 18 and 20 19 to 2020, the proportion of mobike River business of China Mobile among its fixed broadband users will increase significantly, from 65.9% and 70.9% to 73.3%.
China Unicom's summary of broadband services is to adjust measures to local conditions and make classified policies. In its annual report, it said that the North highlights the characteristics of leading broadband quality and service and stabilizes the business scale; South China will continue to increase cooperation, revitalize broadband port resources and improve the operating system. Focus on the home market and strengthen the value management of home users through the combination of smart home, video and rights. Empower precision marketing and inventory management through big data analysis, carry out targeted marketing in key areas, and continuously improve operational efficiency.
"In the home market, as of June 65438+February 3 1 in 2020, the company has 65438+59 million broadband users, 65438+160,000 Tianyi HD users and180,000 fixed-line users, with large scale and wide coverage." China Telecom also stated in the prospectus that the company insists on taking the information needs of home customers as the breakthrough point, and constantly enriches and fills the integration connotation of home customers by accelerating gigabit upgrade and smart home business development, so as to make every effort to create differentiated advantages. In the fierce market competition, the scale of broadband users has maintained steady growth, and the scale of smart home users has achieved rapid growth.
According to Fu Liang's speculation, in the future, operators' previous competition in broadband will gradually move from single to diversified. "There will be some rights-related content bundles, such as smart home business and 5G packages."