news

the august data of the three major operators were released recently. the number of 5g package customers of china telecom and china unicom were approximately 340 million and 280 million respectively, and that of china mobile was approximately 534 million. against the background of the net increase in the number of customers of the three major operators, whether users can really "come and go freely" has also become a concern of the market.

beijing business daily reporters learned in interviews that some users still face difficulties when "porting their number to other networks", while operators said they are also working hard to help users solve the problem and that the interests of both parties do not conflict. industry experts pointed out that number portability is no longer a threat to operators and that cooperation with enterprises has greater benefits and is also a larger battlefield.

users encounter "roadblocks"

beijing business daily reporters visited users and operators on the issue of "number portability" and learned about the difficulties behind it. the so-called number portability refers to users switching from the original operator to a new operator without changing their mobile phone numbers. on november 27, 2019, the national number portability service was officially launched.

however, number portability is not always smooth sailing. mr. zhang, who lives in xianyang, came to beijing to attend university three years ago. due to the operator's signal coverage problem, the number mr. zhang had previously applied for at home was not easy to use in beijing, especially when he went to slightly remote places, 5g always turned into 4g, and sometimes there was no signal. for this reason, mr. zhang planned to switch networks and change from a mobile package to a unicom package.

however, when mr. zhang called customer service to request a network switch, the other party told him that it could not be processed on the phone and could only be processed at the local business hall. when mr. zhang returned to his hometown, he found that if he wanted to switch networks, he had to "sort out the old accounts" first.

mr. zhang and his father's mobile phone numbers are the primary and secondary cards. if he wants to switch networks, the primary and secondary cards must be unbound first, and for this, his father needs to apply. in addition, mr. zhang has signed some contracts with the operator, such as monthly refunds for prepaid phone charges. mr. zhang prepaid 1,000 yuan for phone charges, which will be refunded in two years. during the event, he cannot give up the number. if he must give it up, the phone charges will not be refunded.

mr. zhang's problem is not an isolated case. the reporter learned that when users want to switch networks or quit networks, "in-transit business" and contract issues are the two major "stumbling blocks". the so-called in-transit business refers to the business that is being processed. for example, when a user applies to change the package, the new package has not yet taken effect and the old package has not yet terminated, the so-called business change is in-transit. in addition, some value-added services, such as ordering targeted traffic packages for video platforms and targeted free traffic for music apps, are also counted as in-transit business when they have not yet terminated.

the types of contracts include promotional contracts, premium number contracts, and broadband bundles. signing a contract is equivalent to signing an agreement with the operator. if the user switches networks, he or she will be liable for breach of contract and will need to pay liquidated damages. if a dispute arises between the two parties, it can only be resolved through legal means, which is undoubtedly costly for individual users.

the reporter learned from the interview that the legal dispute is not the main issue, but the inadequate service is the real headache for users. the interviewee, ms. yang, told the reporter that she had cancelled her subscription on the china unicom app, but needed to go to an offline business hall to refund the prepaid phone bill. unexpectedly, because she had already cancelled her subscription on the app, the staff said that there was no such person. later, she succeeded in handling the matter through a complaint.

where does the difficulty come from?

as to whether the various difficulties in number portability still exist, beijing business daily reporters also visited offline business halls of beijing mobile, china unicom and other companies to understand the situation.

a staff member of beijing mobile told reporters that if the user does have ongoing services or is bundled with a contract, he or she does need to terminate the contract before withdrawing from the network or switching networks, but the company will not deliberately create difficulties for users. on the contrary, the operator has been striving to simplify the business processing procedures.

the reporter learned that current operators recommend users to handle the matter on their mobile phones and do not force users to go to the business hall. even if users come in person, the staff will advise users to download the china mobile app first.

a staff member told reporters: in the past, users had to go through the process in person, mainly to verify their identity, not to deliberately set up obstacles. now facial recognition technology is advanced, and the company has also combined facial recognition with sms verification, which greatly enhances security and reduces the risk of fraud.

a beijing mobile staff member told reporters: "online processing is not only convenient for users, but also increases our efficiency. in fact, more users' demands are not to switch networks or quit networks, but to change packages. compared with traditional telephone processing, processing business on the app is clearer and easier to check records, reducing disputes."

regarding the contract issue, a beijing mobile staff member told reporters that users who want to switch networks must indeed terminate the contract first, but among the packages currently sold by the company, there are almost no packages that require high liquidated damages from users, and special attention is also paid to the length of the contract. generally speaking, the home broadband contract has the longest term of all categories, but it does not exceed two and a half years.

regarding the obstacles in number portability, fu liang, a communications industry observer, told the beijing business daily reporter that although different users have different feelings, at the operator level, they will not deliberately set obstacles for users. in reality, the staff's lack of business proficiency and lack of understanding of the rules are important reasons for poor user experience. now the number of new users of the three major operators and the number of 5g package users increase by millions each month. the overall user scale of china mobile and china unicom remains at 1 billion to 1.1 billion. network withdrawal and network transfer are not a problem that operators are worried about.

the battlefield has shifted

it is undeniable that in the early stage of the number portability policy, users' enthusiasm was relatively high. after the national number portability service was officially launched in november 2019, in 2020, the number of mobile users of china unicom decreased by 12.664 million, the number of mobile users of china mobile decreased by 8.36 million, and the number of users of china telecom increased by 15.45 million that year.

in the view of ma jihua, a senior analyst in the communications industry, number portability was all the rage back then. on the one hand, it was because 5g had just been launched and operators were competing for users. on the other hand, it was also a mistake in the operators' customer acquisition strategy. to some extent, this mistake triggered vicious competition.

experts say that in order to please new customers, operators did not hesitate to discriminate against old customers. whether it was china unicom or china mobile, new customers could get high-speed data and hundreds of minutes of talk time at a lower price. it was not uncommon for new users to get their first month free, which was not available to old users. more importantly, "free mobile phones for joining the network" or selling mobile phones at extremely low prices were common tactics used by operators.

in the offline business halls of china unicom and china mobile, the reporter saw that the phenomenon of enjoying discounts on mobile phones by applying for packages still exists, but it no longer distinguishes between new and old users. for example, after purchasing a designated package and meeting the minimum consumption, you can get a 5g mobile phone from brands including honor, zte, and realme. the price is not high, basically around 1,000 yuan, and basically no more than 2,000 yuan. "high-end products" such as apple mobile phones will not be given away for free, but only enjoy a discount of 800-1,000 yuan.

ma jihua said that nowadays, operators can have a bigger piece of the pie by cooperating with internet companies or tapping into the value of home customers. for example, with the development of smart homes, operators are more willing to combine mobile phones, broadband, and televisions to provide users with a one-stop solution. for operators, this not only increases revenue, but also improves user stickiness, and is more affordable and worry-free for users.

although the phenomenon of number portability is rare nowadays, it does not mean that operators are free of crisis. relatively speaking, market competition will be more intense. industry experts pointed out that cloud computing, big data and other enterprise information services are the battlegrounds for all companies. compared with individual number portability, the change of service providers for enterprises poses a greater threat to operators. especially in cooperation with internet companies, products such as tencent wangka and ali baoka often bring a large number of users, and the competition between operators will only become more intense.

beijing business daily reporter tao feng and wang zhuli