Experts Say China's Broadband Development Unbalance Proposes Separation of Internet Industry

No matter whether it is the competitiveness of the country or the enterprise, a lot of metrics can be taken, but one of the most representative metrics in the future is bandwidth. The main problem of broadband in China is the unbalanced development. In some places, the development of broadband is lagging behind. In some places, there are redundant constructions and even surpluses.

The Internet is almost everywhere in China. Nearly 500 million Internet users and many network services such as instant messaging, online video, and online games have presented an important practical need - faster speeds and wider networks.

With the continued growth of the number of netizens and the increasing popularity of network services, broadband is not a simple technical issue. It is more related to the livelihood issue in the digital domain.

At the same time, the United States and other developed countries have made broadband network construction an important strategy for “winning the future”. Although China’s number of broadband users ranks first in the world, it is in line with the developed countries in terms of broadband penetration, access speed and tariff levels. The gap between them reminds us of the status quo and bottleneck of broadband development from the perspective of national development strategies.

It is reported that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is studying the objectives and policies and measures for determining the development of broadband, and actively proposes that broadband be incorporated into the national strategy to promote it.

Network development suffers from insufficient bandwidth "bottleneck"

In terms of broadband penetration, a report released by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) shows that the number of broadband users in China ranks first in the world. However, according to the academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Wu Hejun, as of the end of last year, the overall penetration rate of China’s broadband was 33.5%, while in 2007, the European broadband penetration rate was 35.4%, and the US’s index was 50.9%. The broadband penetration rate in China has reached the world average level, but there is still a certain gap with the developed countries in the world.

In terms of broadband access speed, according to CNNIC statistics, the average Internet connection speed in the country is only 100.9KB/sec, which is far lower than the global average connection speed of 230.4KB/sec. The problem of “broadband broadband is not wide” is more obvious.

In terms of broadband spending, according to a report previously released by the Information Research Department of the National Information Center, if the income gap is taken into consideration, the per capita national income of South Korea in 2008 was 6.9 times that of China, which means that the broadband tariff level in China is equivalent to 124 times in South Korea.

In fact, the absolute value of broadband Internet access for Chinese netizens is not high, but “Chinese residents’ communication charges account for nearly 10%, while developed countries are 4%, which means we can say that our netizens enjoy the same level of communication services as developed countries. Application, but our income is much worse than that of developed countries, so this ratio is relatively high," said He Hejun.

According to Zeng Jianqiu, professor of the School of Economics and Management at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, it should not simply be compared horizontally with some developed countries and regions. “Such as South Korea, Singapore, and Hong Kong, these countries or regions are relatively small, and they want to build a broadband network. Still relatively easy." Zeng Jianqiu also pointed out that "China's broadband problem is mainly unbalanced development. In some places, broadband development is lagging, and in some places there is redundant construction and even surplus." He believes that the unbalanced development of broadband is similar to that of highways. "For example, our road has been very wide. Suddenly we have become very narrow in one place. From eight lanes to single lanes, it is prone to problems. So broadband is Development must achieve balanced development in order to achieve maximum effectiveness."

To a certain extent, China's existing "broadband bottleneck" in which Internet connectivity is not smooth and broadband costs are too high has limited the development of the Internet itself. For example, the use rate of Internet music, online games, and online videos is over 60%. The service is limited by bandwidth, not only the user experience is poor, but related companies also complain. In terms of the cloud computing industry that has been highly hoped for, China’s cost is also four times that of the United States.

Broadband investment has become a new economic impetus in the future In 2010, the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) submitted a proposal for a national broadband development plan to the National Assembly, aiming to increase the speed of the US broadband network by 25 times on an existing basis. The proposal plans to provide 500M/sec bandwidth for broadband networks in the next 10 years and 300M/sec for mobile devices in the next 5 years.

On May 19, 2010, the European Commission announced a five-year "digital agenda" plan, which will deploy ultra-high-speed broadband in 27 member countries. By 2020, the European Union will provide a network of no less than 30 M/sec throughout Europe. Speed, providing at least 50% of European homes with over 100M/s.

Although South Korea’s current broadband network ranks first in the world in terms of average transmission rate and home broadband coverage, the South Korean government is not satisfied. Its related departments stated that South Korea’s fastest completion in 2013 will be completed within 10 seconds. A gigabit broadband network for DVD-rated movies.

"Whether it is the competitiveness of the country or the enterprise, you can come up with a lot of metrics, but one of the most representative indicators in the future is bandwidth." Zeng Jianqiu believes that the future competition is the competition of bandwidth.

Not only video services, cloud computing and other network economic development can not be separated from broadband Internet, broadband network investment can also indirectly stimulate consumption growth and promote social employment, broadband has become a new source of economic development. According to the World Bank’s research, the country’s return on broadband investment is quite obvious. Every 10% increase in broadband penetration can drive GDP growth by 1.4%; every dollar invested in broadband can bring a return of 10 times.

For China, the broadband industry can not only stimulate GDP growth, but also effectively promote the transformation of China's economic mode, from the industrial power or agricultural power to the information power.

At present, many countries in the world have already targeted the construction of broadband networks and will use them as an important infrastructure for the development of the information society in the future to increase strategic investment. “Already 82 countries have introduced the 'national broadband strategy', and China has become one of the few countries that do not have a national broadband strategy. The direct consequence is that the focus of national infrastructure investment is 'iron rooster' (railway, highway, airport), and strategic to broadband. Insufficient investment, said Jiang Qiping, secretary general of the Informatization Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"Separation of the Internet industry" to achieve "all-optical network" is the right time "From the background of the current triple play, the country's broadband strategy should be formulated from the height of the State Council or the State Information Commission, the sooner the better." Zeng Jianqiu pointed out that at present The national bandwidth-level planning for fiber-optic broadband construction still lags behind in the planning of urban and rural bandwidth. “At least we must achieve more than 10M. From our research and some foreign experience, 10M's bandwidth is the lowest threshold, that is to say, When accessing the Internet, it is possible to access the Internet, whether it is browsing the web or watching videos.

The introduction of national broadband strategy as soon as possible has become the common aspiration of experts and scholars inside and outside the industry. At the two sessions this year, many deputies pointed out proposals for the current status of China's "low-speed broadband" development. In addition, major domestic operators are also aware of the urgency of accelerating the development of broadband. On the eve of “5·17” telecommunications, China Telecom announced the launch of the “Broadband China Wings Up” event and plans to implement fiber optics in cities above the county level.

“Now is a great time to build a fiber optic network. Fiber is too cheap and noodles are more expensive than fiber.” Zeng Jianqiu revealed that the cost of the best optical fiber is less than 1 centimeter. The decline in costs is inextricably linked with market demand, and it is just right to develop “all-optical networks” in China. We already have a backbone network with a wide range of coverage, and we also need to plan from the perspective of the country as a whole to reduce redundant construction.

In his view, as important as the construction of "all-optical network" is the "separation of the Internet industry", that is, separation of networks and services, separation of physical networks and service networks at the enterprise level.

"In fact, consumers do not care about physical networks, and the most important thing is to care about network services and prices." Zeng Jianqiu believes that in China, it is entirely possible to establish an overall network at the national level and at the same time introduce enterprise competition at the service level. "The competition of enterprises is focused on services. The bandwidth itself should not become the competitiveness of enterprises. The optical network should become the country's infrastructure."

"At present, many companies are desperately building Guangguang. This is a state of disorder. They should be integrated into the overall national broadband strategy to break down corporate inefficiencies or inefficient competition to meet the network needs of different consumer groups and promote services. The improvement of the level and the decline of related tariffs," Zeng Jianqiu pointed out.

"If we want to increase the speed of the Internet, the cost will be reduced and only competition will be adopted." Jiang Qiping believes that the national broadband strategic plan must handle the relationship between broadband development and reform, and "create conditions for the competition of enterprises, especially the fair participation of private enterprises. ".