The idea of being able to use the networks of all four major carriers in China without swapping SIM cards, changing phone numbers, or altering your plan might have seemed far-fetched in the past. But surprisingly, it's now a reality!
It all started when Tony was tinkering with his phone a couple of days ago and stumbled upon a switch called "Inter-network Roaming" buried deep within the developer settings.
We're all pretty familiar with roaming these days, right? Like my telecom number is registered in Hangzhou, but it's actually based in Zhejiang. Thanks to roaming, when I travel to other provinces in China, as long as there are local telecom base stations, my phone can still access the internet.
But I must admit, "inter-network roaming" is a new term for me.
Later, I looked it up online and found out that it's exactly what it sounds like. When you enable this feature, regardless of whether you're with China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom, or China Broadcasting Network, as long as one of them has a signal, your phone can connect to their network and get online.
And what's even more exciting?
When we use another carrier's network, our phones still operate based on our original plans. There's no need to get an additional plan from the other carrier just because we're using a different network. Plus, there's no need to worry about any roaming charges; we can just use it seamlessly.
When it comes to settling the "internet fee" across networks, it's the responsibility of the mobile operator to handle, so we don't need to worry about it at all.
Well, it's quite something! Back in the day, choosing a mobile carrier used to depend on factors like signal coverage and cost-effectiveness of the plans. But with cross-network roaming, isn't it just a matter of checking the plans? Since you can roam across carriers, there's no need to fuss over which one to choose, right?
For those folks contemplating whether to switch carriers due to poor mobile signal, there's no need to fret anymore. If your current provider's network isn't up to par, you can always switch to another carrier and utilize their network instead. This way, the issue of having no signal on your phone becomes a thing of the past.
You know what? I used to think the same thing at first.
But after getting a clear understanding of this feature, turns out I was a bit naive. At this stage, mobile network roaming across different carriers isn't as flexible as I thought. To sum it up, this feature is indeed available, but not everyone may find it useful, and there are conditions to using it.
This recent trial of cross-network roaming within China is only happening in one province – Xinjiang. It's aimed at reducing the infrastructure costs in this vast and sparsely populated province, while also improving overall network coverage.
To be honest, cross-network roaming isn't really a new technology. It's like when we travel abroad – once we land, our domestic mobile cards from carriers like China Mobile, China Unicom, or China Telecom can still access the internet without any additional steps.
That's because domestic carriers have agreements with foreign carriers, allowing our Chinese SIM cards to connect to their networks. After we use the services, the foreign carriers settle the network fees with our domestic carriers, and then our domestic carriers bill us for those charges.
Another form of inter-network roaming, known as domestic roaming, involves operators within a country opening up their communication base stations to each other, aiming to reduce the expenses of building duplicate stations in the same area.
For instance, in sparsely populated regions like the United States, their telecom laws mandate that eligible operators must provide basic network infrastructure services to every licensed telecom service provider.
The delayed launch of domestic roaming in China, as discussed in forums like Telecom Home and c114, which are known for industry discussions, stems primarily from issues related to profit distribution.
Just imagine if mobile, China Unicom, China Telecom, and China Broadcasting all shared their networks; it would undoubtedly result in losses for those with more base stations, while the one with the fewest base stations would essentially get a windfall.
China Broadcasting, as the fourth-largest operator to enter the game, has struck a deal with China Mobile for what's known as "inter-network roaming." But the catch is, this collaboration hinges on access to the coveted 700 MHz spectrum band—a frequency known for its speed and stability, previously reserved solely for broadcasting by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
Now, with this partnership in place, China Broadcasting can leverage Mobile's infrastructure for its own subscribers, while Mobile gains access to the high-quality 700 MHz spectrum, creating a win-win situation for both parties.
On another front, there's a sort of alliance brewing between China Unicom and China Telecom. Given that Mobile currently leads in the number of 5G base stations, to counter Mobile's 5G coverage dominance, Unicom and Telecom have inked a pact for joint construction and sharing of base stations.
So, in a way, it's possible that each of us has already had a taste of this inter-network roaming technology.
But to truly enable seamless roaming across all four carriers, ensuring every user gets the best signal possible... well, let's just say it's not something the carriers themselves would proactively suggest and drive forward.
So, it's quite simple really. This pilot project for inter-network roaming in Xinjiang is being coordinated by the higher authorities of all the carriers, with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology leading the charge. The goal? To align with the national initiative for "signal upgrade" and ensure more people can access 5G.
And you can actually see from this news that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) is like the big parent of all these companies, making efforts to control the situation. Look, they're only allowing data roaming under 5G signals, not 4G, which also helps operators save some money on interconnection settlements.
In fact, back in the 4G era and when the construction of 5G was about to start, MIIT facilitated the formation of tower companies by various operators, which saved costs on land acquisition for setting up shared base stations.
When the upcoming 5.5G network upgrade is about to kick off, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) is once again pushing for the pilot of cross-network roaming technology.
With this development underway, the ultimate outcome will undoubtedly be the nationwide upgrade to 5.5G networks, coupled with the comprehensive deployment of cross-network roaming technology by all telecom operators across the country. So, even though it may not be immediately impactful, we're definitely not far from the day when every elevator will be brimming with 5G signals.
