5G frequency granted to mobile phone carriers in China

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The three major mobile phone carriers in China got the permission to use 5G frequency for technical tests on Monday.

"China Telecom and China Unicom are permitted to use the 3500MHz frequency, while China Mobile can test both 2600MHz and 4900Mhz frequencies," China's IT ministry announced on its official website.

Cellular frequencies, known as "bands" to smartphone users, are radio frequencies that a phone utilizes to send and receive data.

Some smartphones do not support all bands in the world, resulting in "no service" notices when the owner travels abroad.

China Mobile's future

The frequencies for China Mobile (CMCC) is different from the other two major carriers, which also happened in the 3G and 4G era.

The difference may have a significant impact on CMCC's future strategy. But whether it's good or bad is under hot debate among analysts.

Some say CMCC's 2600Mhz frequency is significantly lower than competitors, which means the mobile signal can penetrate more obstacles resulting better coverage.

But others say phone makers may refuse to customize their smartphones to suit the special frequency since most developed countries use 3500 MHz just like China Telecom and China Unicom.

One of the reasons for China Mobile's failure in the 3G era was phone makers' refusal. /VCG Photo

Another trouble for CMCC is interference. If two types of telecommunication use the same frequency, they will interfere with each other and don't function well.

The frequencies around 2600MHz are also used by China's self-developed GPS replacement BeiDou. It's obvious that a phone should not lose its bars when doing navigations on the road. It may take some efforts for CMCC to avoid the interference with BeiDou, slowing down their implementation of 5G.

(Cover: VCG, with modifications)