International survey claims China's internet speed ranks 90th (Sina Tech illustration) - Xinhua News Agency, Shanghai, February 6th (Reporters Gong Wan and Gao Shaohua) - From allegations of network access monopolies by telecommunications operators to "fake broadband," and most recently a survey result showing mainland China ranking 90th globally in internet speed, a heated discussion about the slow speed and high cost of domestic internet has once again captured the attention of all sectors.
So, why does China's internet speed appear so sluggish, and where is the way out for achieving faster speeds? Can the pace of "speeding up and reducing fees" by telecommunications operators keep up with the earnest expectations of a large number of internet users?
Mainland average internet speed "not supportive," ranked 90th globally
The latest Internet report issued by Akamai, the world's largest CDN service provider based in the United States, shows that the global average internet speed increased by 39% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2011, reaching 2.7 Mbps, while mainland China only ranked 90th with an average speed of 1.4 Mbps, far below the global average.
Wang Xiangdong, Director of the Information Center at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told reporters that Akamai's report conveys three layers of information: First, from a longitudinal comparison, mainland China's average internet speed ranking rose from 117th globally in the second quarter of 2010 to 90th, indicating progress in global rankings; Second, from the perspective of growth rate, mainland China's average internet speed increased from 0.9 Mbps in the second quarter of 2010 to 1.4 Mbps, relatively fast growth; Third, from a horizontal comparison, a global rank of 90th is still very backward. Even within the Asia-Pacific region, China lags far behind countries like South Korea, Japan, and Singapore, and even compared to Thailand and Malaysia, it is still behind, which is not in line with China's current international economic and political status.
In the industry's view, although China's current internet speed is not fast globally, the charges are relatively high. The "China Broadband User Survey" released by DCCI Internet Data Center at the end of December 2011 showed that the monthly fee for a 1M fixed broadband user in mainland China was actually equivalent to $13.13, which is three times that of Vietnam, four times that of the United States, 29 times that of South Korea, and 469 times that of Hong Kong.
Ding Jianting, General Manager of Shanghai Ruice Software Co., Ltd., told reporters that the current quality of China's network is unsatisfactory in terms of server bandwidth, user bandwidth, and smoothness of intermediate links, directly resulting in a serious reduction in the office efficiency of enterprises that cannot do without the internet at any time. For internet companies, this means facing user complaints and potential business losses. "In the context of globalization of the internet and the great development of e-commerce, Chinese internet companies will inevitably fall behind."
On various microblogs and forums, netizens reacted strongly to the news that China's average internet speed ranked 90th globally. A Sina Weibo user named "Yangguangbaoqinwang" commented, "The price is 40 times higher than South Korea, which tops the global internet speed rankings, yet we have 'snail-speed' internet."
"Snail crawling" sparks heated discussions in the industry seeking true solutions
Telecommunications expert Hou Ziqiang from the Institute of Acoustics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, told reporters that factors affecting user internet speed are complex. Just from the perspective of content transmission paths, its speed is influenced by backbone networks, access networks, network servers, and content sources.
Three-network integration research expert Wu Chunyong stated that there are four reasons for the current lackluster internet speed on the mainland: First, in terms of technology, China's broadband market mainly uses ADSL as its access method and technology, while other countries with higher broadband speeds generally use fiber optic access. Second, in terms of user scale, China has a large base of internet users. By the end of 2011, the number of broadband internet users accessing via home computers reached 392 million, accounting for 98.9% of all home computer internet users, whereas other countries may have user bases of only tens of millions. Third, in terms of network upgrades, the cost and cycle of upgrading nearly 400 million users' networks are significant. Fourth, in terms of market competition, international internet exits are still concentrated in the hands of China Unicom and China Telecom, while non-telecom broadband operators exhibit characteristics of being numerous but small in scale.
South Korean columnist Kim Jae-Hyun, in his article "Why is China's Internet Speed So Slow?" directly pointed the finger at the monopoly of China's telecommunications market. He believed that the biggest reason for China's slow internet speed is the lack of effective competition, as China's internet access market is almost entirely divided between China Telecom and China Unicom, enjoying geographical monopolistic advantages in the south and north respectively.
In fact, China Unicom and China Telecom were indeed investigated by the National Development and Reform Commission for antitrust issues related to broadband in 2011, which also brought the reform call for broadband access to a climax.
However, many industry insiders admitted that it would not be easy to immediately shake off China's current "snail-speed" internet phenomenon.
"Countries like South Korea, Japan, and Singapore have developed their broadband quickly, certainly due to market competition factors, but many telecom markets with high levels of openness around the world have not achieved the internet speed levels of these countries." Domestic telecommunications commentator and President of Feixiang.com (Weibo), Xiang Ligang (Weibo), expressed that the important driving force for accelerating the improvement of internet speed still comes from national strategy and government financial investment.
"Speeding up and reducing fees" is what everyone hopes for
How can China's internet users enjoy better, faster, and cheaper broadband services? Wu Chunyong believes that relevant national authorities and operators need to promote from multiple aspects: First, formulate a five-year or ten-year development plan for broadband acceleration, further clarifying each time point; Second, telecom operators can accelerate network upgrades annually according to their own operations and revenue conditions, aiming to achieve fiber-to-the-building and fiber-to-the-home processes as soon as possible; Third, fully utilize the rare development opportunity of the three-network integration pilot program, entrusting internet exit rights to third parties or non-telecom institutions, thereby directly forming a good broadband market and industrial competition environment.
It is worth noting that regarding the domestic network development situation, the "China Broadband User Survey" report issued by DCCI Internet Data Center at the end of 2011 pointed out that the cumulative number of fixed broadband and 3G users in mainland China in the first three quarters of 2011 reached 150 million and 102 million people respectively, but the vast majority of internet users were using "fake broadband." An investigation into the average internet speed of fixed broadband users with different bandwidths found that more than half of users did not reach the marked speed.
"In fact, so-called 'fake broadband' mainly refers to two aspects: speed and cost, and the experience brought to users under the current fee structure." Wang Xiangdong said that combining this Akamai report with the previous 'fake broadband' issue mainly reflects that the current state of broadband information infrastructure domestically is not optimistic, increasing the overall social cost of informatization applications. Currently, all sectors of society have put forward requirements for the 'acceleration and fee reduction' of broadband, hoping to improve this situation as soon as possible.
Regarding the widespread concern over the low speed and high cost of broadband, Minister of Industry and Information Technology Miao Wei stated at the end of 2011 that in 2012, the MIIT would implement the "Broadband China" strategy, striving for national policy and financial support, accelerating the development of 3G and fiber-optic broadband networks, expanding coverage, and aiming to increase speed, expand coverage, benefit the people, and reduce prices through the implementation of the broadband internet acceleration project.
Hou Ziqiang suggested that developing broadband requires not only increasing the number of internet backbone network operators but also formulating market rules and long-term price reduction mechanisms, introducing new market competitors, thus promoting China's broadband to achieve high-quality and reasonable pricing as soon as possible.
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