China's Three Main Telcos Report October 2024 Subscriber Totals
Marbridge Consulting, 11/22/24
The listed arms of China's three main telecom operators have announced their subscriber totals for the month of October 2024.
China Mobile
China Mobile (0941.HK; 600941.SH) reported a net gain of just 0.30 mln mobile subscribers during the month, increasing the telecom operator's total mobile user base to over 1.004 bln.
Starting from the May iteration, China Mobile shifted from reporting monthly 5G package customer totals to reporting monthly 5G network customer totals, explaining that the latter better reflects the company's 5G development. China Mobile defines a 5G network customer as a mobile customer who has used the company's 5G network in the given month. In contrast, a 5G package customer is a mobile customer who has simply subscribed to a 5G tariff plan (i.e. "5G network customers" is a subset of "5G package customers").
During the month of October, China Mobile's total number of 5G network customers increased by 6.26 mln to reach 545.69 mln.
China Mobile's total number of fixed-line broadband subscribers (registered accounts) rose to 314.83 mln in October, up 1.23 mln month-on-month and up 16.59 mln since the end of 2023.
China Telecom
China Telecom (0728.HK; 601728.SH) saw a net increase of 0.76 mln mobile subscribers in October, raising its total to 423.43 mln, of which 347.53 mln were 5G package subscribers. During the month, the operator's 5G package subscriber base rose by 2.47 mln subscribers.
China Telecom lost 0.39 mln fixed-line telephone subs in October, reducing its total to 97.61 mln.
China Telecom reported a net increase of 0.36 mln fixed-line broadband subscribers (registered accounts) during the month, raising its total to 196.62 mln.
China Unicom
China Unicom (0762.HK; 600050.SH) reported that as of the end of October 2024, its aggregate number of "Big Connectivity" subscribers reached nearly 1.118 bln, up 12.57 mln month-on-month. China Unicom's "Big Connectivity" category is comprised of the operator's combined total aggregate mobile billing subscribers, fixed-line telephone subscribers, fixed-line broadband subscribers, Internet-of-things terminal connections, and networking leased line subscribers. Of this total, 287.62 mln were 5G package subscribers, representing a net gain of 2.03 mln month-on-month; and 605.05 mln were Internet-of-things terminal connections, up 11.19 mln month-on-month.
China Unicom also reported that its number of customers served by virtual 5G industry private network for the month of October was 14,705, up 692 month-on-month.
China Broadnet
China's fourth 5G telecom network operator, China Broadnet, saw its 5G user base reach approximately 29.37 mln as of the end of September, according to statistics released on October 28 by China's National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA).
Broadnet officially launched 5G network services just 29 months ago, on June 27, 2022, and is not yet reporting its 5G subscriber totals on a regular, monthly basis.
Keywords: wireless China Telecom China Mobile China Unicom fixed-line Internet broadband statistics telecom mobile subscribers 5G broadband subscribers 0728.HK 0762.HK 0941.HK 600050.SH 601728.SH 600941.SH Broadnet fixed-line subscribers
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