5G Handsets Comprise 8% of China's Q3 2019 Network Access License Applications
CAICT, 10/29/19
In Q3 2019, as China's mobile phone market continued to transition from 4G to 5G, 5G handset models comprised over 8% of total new handset product network access license applications submitted during the quarter, according to a newly issued report from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT)'s CTTL Terminal Labs under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).
The report also provided the following breakdowns of the new handset models that applied to the MIIT for network access licenses during Q3 2019:
Breakdown by Generation
During the quarter, a total of 211 new handset models applied to the MIIT for network access licenses, including 17 (8.1% of the total) 5G models, 139 (65.9%) 4G models, and 55 (26.1%) 2G models. The 65.9% figure for 4G models represents a 12.8 percentage point drop compared to Q3 2018 and a 14.5 percentage point drop compared to Q2 2019.
Breakdown by Radio Frequency Supported
5G Handsets
Of the 17 new 5G handset models that applied for network access licenses during the quarter, all 17 support Band 41, 16 support Band 78, and 10 support Band 79.
4G Handsets
Of the 139 new 4G handset models that applied for network access licenses during the quarter, all 139 support Band 41, 123 support Band 1, and 138 support Band 3.
China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom have all been allocated LTE frequency in Band 41, only China Unicom in Band 1, and both China Telecom and China Unicom in Band 3.
4G Model Voice Solution Support
Of the 139 new 4G handset models that applied for network access licenses during the quarter, 133, or 95.7%, support VoLTE, representing a drop of 1.7 percentage points YoY and 1.5 percentage points QoQ.
LTE Network Capability Support by User Equipment Category
Of the 139 new 4G handset models that applied for network access licenses during the quarter, 65 support User Equipment Category 4 capabilities, a combined 42 support UE Category 6, 7, or 9 capabilities, and a combined 31 support UE Category 10, 11, or 12 capabilities.
Positioning Technology Support
Of the 211 new handset models that applied for network access licenses during the quarter, 151 support positioning technology, including 149 4G and 5G models combined, and two 2G models. Of the 4G models among these, 92 support China's self-developed BeiDou Navigation Satellite System.
Operating System
Of the new 4G and 5G handset models that applied for network access licenses during the quarter, 97.4% were smartphones, and of the smartphones, 94.7% run the Android operating system. Of those running Android, 10.4% run the recently (September 3, 2019) released Android 10. Android 10 was the second most-used version of Android among Android handsets that applied for network access licenses during the quarter, following Android 9, which comprised roughly 70%.
Keywords: handset wireless 4G MIIT 5G Beidou operating system VoLTE CAICT Q3 2019 smartphone network access permit handset model national statistics
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