China’s 5G subscriber numbers continue to grow rapidly every month, equivalent to the population of a small or medium-sized country. According to the latest monthly subscriber statistics, China’s “Big Three” telecommunications companies: China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom Combined, the two companies achieved a net increase of more than 20 million 5G connections in July alone.
While that’s a big number, the sheer size of the country’s 5G market means overall monthly growth was a relatively modest 1.8%, with subscribers increasing from 1.13 billion (June) to almost 1.15 billion.
China Mobile has been the driving force behind the country’s 5G growth, adding 13.7 million new subscribers in July, bringing its 5G customer base to just under 528 million, more than half of the total mobile subscriber base of just over 1 billion. China Mobile added its 1 billionth mobile subscriber in June.
China’s 5G warning
China Telecom and China Unicom report the number of “5G packages” rather than the number of active 5G subscribers (a statistic currently reported by China Mobile), which skews China’s 5G numbers upwards, as people who subscribe to a 5G package (data bundle) do not necessarily have access to 5G services due to poor network coverage or lack of a suitable smartphone.
Such complaints aside, China Telecom and China Unicom reported adding 3.1 million and 2.9 million additional 5G package subscribers in July, respectively. At the end of that month, China Telecom had about 340 million 5G package subscribers, accounting for 81% of its total mobile subscribers. China Unicom had 279 million 5G package subscribers at the time, accounting for about 81% of its total mobile subscribers, just like China Telecom.
In a recent report The GSMA predicts that the number of “5G connections” (it avoids the “5G package” metric) will account for half of China’s total mobile connections by the end of the year. By 2030, the GSMA estimates, 5G connections in China are expected to reach 1.6 billion, one-third of the global total.
Growth in China’s fixed broadband sector has been more subdued and is a much smaller market than 5G. China Mobile reported a net add of 33,000 in July, bringing the total to 309.2 million. Since the start of 2024, China Mobile has added about 11 million wired broadband subscribers, about 2 million fewer than the 5G net add it achieved in July alone.
China Telecom added nearly 1 million fixed-broadband subscribers in July, bringing its total to more than 194 million. China Unicom is not as transparent as its rivals about its monthly fixed-broadband statistics, but it did mention them in its report. Financials for the first half of 2024 “The number of broadband subscribers continued to grow, reaching 117 million as of June 30,” it said.
Cloud-powered growth
China Telecom is First half of 2024 performancewas the last of the “big three” to achieve this feat, with each company reporting healthy revenue growth fueled by increased adoption of cloud-based products.
China Mobile Financials for the first half of 2024 Operating revenue increased 3% year-on-year to RMB 546.7 billion (USD 76.6 billion), while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) decreased 0.6% to RMB 182.3 billion (USD 25.5 billion). China Mobile Cloud revenue reached RMB 50.4 billion (USD 7 billion), an impressive increase of 19.3% year-on-year.
Turning to China Telecom, its operating revenue in the first half of 2024 increased 2.8% year-on-year to RMB268 billion ($37.6 billion), and its EBITDA increased 4.7% to RMB76.8 billion ($10.8 billion). China Telecom Cloud’s revenue was RMB55.2 billion ($7.7 billion), up an impressive 20.4% year-on-year.
China Unicom reported sales and cloud revenue growth in line with its two main rivals, with operating revenue growing 2.9% year-on-year to RMB197.3 billion ($27.6 billion) and Unicom cloud revenue growing 24.3% to RMB31.7 billion ($4.5 billion) in the first half of 2024. China Unicom’s EBITDA grew 2.7% to RMB55 billion ($7.7 billion).
Reflecting growing confidence in their financial outlook, the boards of directors of China Mobile and China Unicom approved dividend increases of 7% and 22% year-on-year, respectively.
– Ken Wieland, TelecomTV Contributing Editor
