On May 17, 2022, China Unicom announced on its official microblogging site that it had officially released the “5G communication case”. The 5G communication shell”, and priority in China Unicom channels listed for sale. China Unicom said that the so-called “5G communication case” is hardware that enables 4G phones to become 5G phones in seconds through eSIM technology, supporting the Huawei P50 Pro to enjoy the 5G Gigabit network.
At the same time, buy a 5G communication shell and activate Unicom eSIM function to enjoy an eSIM service fee discount. on June 9, China Unicom officials announced that the communication shell products will start pre-sale on June 10, and officially start sales on June 17.
DoNews also found that on different online platforms of China Unicom, the 5G communication case is often sold in bundles with Huawei P50 Pro, with discount subsidies ranging from 500-600 yuan reduction. For example, on China Unicom’s official flagship store platform in Jingdong, the Huawei P50 Pro + 5G communication case has a RMB 500 off for a total of RMB 6,799.
In fact, the 5G communication case is not a hardware product produced by China Unicom but comes from Digital Source Technology.
According to the official information of Digital Source Technology, it was founded in 1973 and officially registered in 1999, with digital electronic information and communication products as its main business. Its main business includes industrial products and businesses such as high-definition LCD TVs, digital TV set-top boxes, information software, Internet of Things, Internet of Vehicles, new energy, real estate, and software park construction.
According to the financial report, in 2021, the annual revenue of Digital Source Technology was 1.778 billion yuan (RMB, the same below), up 32.2% year-on-year; operating profit was 120 million yuan, up 98.86% year-on-year; net profit attributable to the mother was 0.6 billion yuan, up 39.87% year-on-year. 2022 Q1, the main revenue was 649 million yuan, up 100.82% year-on-year; operating profit was 0.2 billion yuan, up 9.28%; net profit attributable to the mother of 487.21 million yuan, down 7.39% year-on-year.
Its revenue is divided by industry into four categories: commerce business (50%), communication and equipment manufacturing (i.e., video and audio products, including color TVs, technology development, product sales, etc., accounting for 25.1%), real estate development and operation (16.2%), and park industry (8.6%).
Since this year, by the “5G communication shell” concept, digital source technology shares changed the trend, and ushered in a number of stops. From May 17, 6.39 yuan all the way up to June 13, the highest point of 16.57 yuan, an increase of up to 160%.
To this end, the number of source technology issued five consecutive announcements of unusual fluctuations in stock transactions. The company clarified that there is no significant change in the main business, “5G communication shell” is a specific user personal consumer electronics products, using modules and other devices for external procurement, only for P50 Pro models, has not yet formed the relevant sales revenue, the business accounted for a relatively small.
In fact, “5G communication case” is not a new concept.
- Technology is not advanced
The earliest “Apple Skin” appeared in the 2010s, which also made the MP4 multimedia player iPod Touch, which only had the functions of listening to music and watching videos, transformed into an iPhone with communication functions such as texting, Internet access and calling.
The “Apple Skin” looks similar to a cell phone case, which has a physical SIM card slot on the back, a communication module, and a data interface at the bottom to connect to the MP4. In layman’s terms, it is a communication module with communication functions to the MP4.
The principle of “5G communication case” is similar to that of “Apple Skin”, except that the physical SIM card has become an eSIM card.
The eSIM card is a kind of virtual card actively promoted by telecom operators, cell phone and other hardware manufacturers in recent years. In the past, our phone cards have undergone decades of evolution, such as SIM, Mini-SIM, Micro-SIM, Nano-SIM, all of them are physical cards, though the size is getting smaller and smaller. An eSIM is a kind of embedded SIM, that is, the SIM card is directly embedded in the hardware device, so that users no longer need the physical card in the physical sense, and can realize the purpose of changing cell phone number and operator without changing the physical card.
At present, domestic eSIM cards are mostly used in wearable devices. For example, an eSIM card is embedded in smart watch, and smart watch is connected with cell phone in pairing, and after opening eSIM function on cell phone APP, it can realize one double terminal, and then smart watch can access the Internet and independent call function.
The “5G communication case” adopts the embedded SIM card, so that the eSIM signal in the communication case can be fused with the SIM card signal in the cell phone to form the 5G signal.
According to the official website of Digital Source Technology, there is a USB interface inside the “5G communication case” of Digital Source Technology. After the phone is connected with the internal USB interface, the phone will automatically display a pop-up window to connect with Huawei for pairing. After successful pairing, it will jump to the smart life management page, and then enter the opening eSIM page, select the SIM to be bound, and complete the opening of operator eSIM service.
5G communication shell open eSIM interface Image source: Digital Source Technology official website
According to the official website of Digital Source Technology, the communication case has a large surface thickness of 3.2mm and weighs about 52g. There is a dual-core CPU chip inside the communication case, and the communication case supports 5G NSA (non-standalone network), SA (standalone network), and Sub-6 networks. In addition to the USB port inside the communication case, there is also a charging port on the outside of the case to support super fast charging of the phone.
A communications industry insider told DoNews: “The 5G communications shell can be understood as a 5G CPE (requiring a physical SIM card), and in the early days when 5G phones were not launched, manufacturers launched 5G CPE terminals. 5G CPE is equivalent to a combination of a 5G modem and a WiFi router. WiFi router combination, which can take the 5G signal from the operator’s base station and convert it into a WiFi signal, allowing users to feel the 5G network speed in advance through WiFi networks.”
The bottom of the 5G CPE requires a SIM card to be inserted Image source: router-switch
So, one month after listing, how is the effect of the “5G communication shell”?
- Three parties are cold, shareholders take the opportunity to cash out
DoNews checked the major e-commerce platforms and found that the communication shells are currently selling in low numbers and user reviews. In the only single-digit user evaluation, many users complained that “the network speed is far from the real 5G speed”, “can’t connect to the 5G network when charging”, and “the 5G network speed is unstable and consumes a lot of power “, and “need to pay an extra fee to open eSIM service”.
E-commerce network platform user reviews Image source: Jingdong, Taobao
Many Internet bloggers were the first to evaluate the communication shell, and the results were mostly unsatisfactory. For example, a B-station blogger found that the eSIM service not only has geographical restrictions, users in Beijing, Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Jiangxi, Shaanxi and Jilin can use the 5G network normally, but users in other provinces may have poor business experience after applying.
The actual speed of the network after the set of communication shells is also far from the speed of the 5G network. The actual speed of the 5G network is also far from that of the 5G network, which is 47.35 Mbps upload and 37.25 Mbps download, and 46.91 Mbps upload and 61.99 Mbps download after installing the communication shell.
When DoNews interviewed users, many of them clearly expressed that they would not buy the communication case. “Although this case is not ugly, the total weight of the phone plus the case is over half a pound, which greatly affects the experience of using it. The phone also needs to pay another fee every month, which is not cost-effective.” Another user told DoNews that 800 yuan for a phone case is a high price, so it’s better to buy a 5G phone at a price of 1,000 yuan.
A China Unicom employee also side-by-side confirmed that the “5G communication case” has been sold for one month and the market response is average. The user side is cold, and the corporate side’s attitude is more intriguing.
In this regard, China Unicom told DoNews that it would not comment. “At present, only one cell phone model for Huawei, and the scope of application is small. China Unicom is actively standing, mainly to promote eSIM services, and users need to pay separately for eSIM Internet access every month.” The aforementioned China Unicom employee said.
Huawei terminal BG official, “not clear about the situation, the product has no relationship with Huawei.”
After experiencing a high of 16.57 yuan on June 17, its share price has fallen all the way to 8.62 yuan as of this writing.
On June 13, Digital Source Technology released an announcement, the company, directly and indirectly, holds a total of 45.23% of the controlling shareholder Westlake Electronics Group plans to reduce the company’s shares, a total reduction of up to 22,691,400 shares, accounting for 5% of the total share capital of the company.
Although the announcement said that the reduction is to comprehensively deepen the mixed reform, optimize the corporate governance structure, further stimulate the vitality of enterprises, and moderate reduction of state-owned shareholding ratio. However, many industry insiders believe that the reduction is to grab cash when the share price is high.
Securities Star commented that, according to the last five years of earnings data, the number of source technology industry competitiveness of the moat is general, poor profitability, future revenue growth is general, and financial or hidden worries.
