China’s 5G ‘subs’ climb to 1.15 billion

• China’s ‘big three’ mobile operators report 20 million 5G net adds in July
• Fixed broadband growth not so impressive
• Cloud-based services boost operators’ H1 2024 results

The number of 5G subscribers in China continues to make vaulting monthly leaps, equivalent to the population of a small- to mid-sized country. According to their latest monthly subscriber stats, China’s ‘big three’ telcos – China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom – between them chalked up more than 20 million 5G net adds in July alone.

Although a huge number, the massive size of the country’s 5G market means that overall month‑on-month growth was a more sedate sounding 1.8%, rising from 1.13 billion (June) subscribers to almost 1.15 billion.    

China Mobile is the country’s 5G growth engine, notching an additional 13.7 million subs during July. It took the operator’s 5G customer base to just under 528 million, which accounts for more than half of its total mobile subscriptions of just over 1 billion: China Mobile snagged its one billionth mobile subscriber in June.

China’s 5G caveat

China Telecom and China Unicom report the number of ‘5G packages’ rather than active 5G subscribers (which is the statistic that China Mobile now reports). This skews upwards China’s 5G number since those signed up to a 5G package (data bundle) can’t necessarily access 5G services, either due to insufficient network coverage or the lack of a suitable smartphone.

Putting that quibble to one side, China Telecom and China Unicom reported 5G package gains of 3.1 million and 2.9 million subscribers respectively during July. At the end of the month, China Telecom had nearly 340 million on 5G packages, accounting for 81% of its total mobile subscriber base. China Unicom had 279 million 5G package subscribers at that time, which, like China Telecom, represents around 81% of all its mobile subscriptions.

In a recent report the GSMA projected that the number of ‘5G connections’ – it eschews the ‘5G package’ metric – will account for half of all mobile connections in China by the end of the year. By 2030, reckons the GSMA, 5G is expected to reach 1.6 billion connections in China, accounting for a third of the world’s total.

Growth in China’s fixed broadband sector is more subdued and is a much smaller market than 5G. China Mobile reported net adds of 33,000 during July, taking its total up to 309.2 million. Since the start of 2024 China Mobile has added nearly 11 million wireline broadband subs, which is nearly 2 million fewer than the number of 5G net gains it achieved in July alone.

China Telecom added nearly 1 million fixed broadband subscribers in July, nudging its total over 194 million. China Unicom is not as transparent as its rivals on monthly fixed broadband stats, although it did fleetingly mention in its H1 2024 financials that “the number of broadband subscribers continued to grow and reached 117 million” as of 30 June.

Cloud-fuelled growth

China Telecom has just filed its H1 2024 results, the last of the ‘big three’ to do so. Each reported respectable top-line growth, helped by growing take-up of cloud-based products.

China Mobile’s H1 2024 financials showed a year-on-year 3% increase in operating revenue, to 546.7bn yuan (CNY) ($76.6bn), although its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) dipped slightly by 0.6% to CNY 182.3bn ($25.5bn). China Mobile Cloud revenue reached CNY 50.4bn ($7bn), an eye-catching increase of 19.3% year-on-year

Turning to China Telecom, H1 2024 operating revenue was up 2.8% year-on-year to CNY 268bn ($37.6bn), while EBITDA was up 4.7%, to CNY 76.8bn ($10.8bn). Revenue from China Telecom Cloud amounted to CNY 55.2 billion ($7.7bn), an impressive 20.4% jump year on-year.

China Unicom reported similar levels of top-line and cloud revenue growth as its two main rivals, with H1 2024 operating revenue increasing 2.9% year-on-year, to CNY 197.3bn ($27.6bn), and Unicom Cloud revenue soaring 24.3%, to CNY 31.7bn ($4.5bn). China Unicom’s EBITDA reached CNY 55 bn ($7.7bn), up 2.7%.

Reflecting growing confidence in their financial outlooks, the boards of China Mobile and China Unicom approved year-on-year dividend hikes of 7% and 22% respectively.

– Ken Wieland, Contributing Editor, TelecomTV