China's MIIT Releases March 2018 Telecom Statistics
MIIT, 4/24/18
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has released its March 2018 and Jan-Mar 2018 telecom industry statistics.
Figures for the first three months of the year were as follows:
Telecom operating revenues for Jan-Mar 2018 were RMB 385.2 bln (USD 60.98 bln), up 4.8% YoY, of which core services revenue was RMB 328.8 bln (USD 52.05 bln), up 5.1% YoY.
Total telephone subscribers increased by 28.31 mln in March to reach 1.662 bln. In March, the number of mobile subscribers increased by 29.30 mln to 1.471 bln, while the number of fixed-line telephone subscribers decreased by 0.98 mln to 190.98 mln. Among the mobile subscribers, 3G subscribers, reversing a steady string of monthly declines, increased by 2.84 mln to reach a total 3G user base of 136.73 mln, and 4G subscribers increased by 29.91 mln to reach a total 4G user base of 1.062 bln. Mobile phone penetration reached 105.8%, while fixed-line penetration dropped to 13.7% (13.7 per 100 people).
A total of 169.93 bln SMS messages were sent in Jan-Mar, up 6.5% YoY.
In terms of internet access, China's number of fixed-line broadband registered accounts increased by 6.93 mln in March, raising the total to 361.51 mln. Fixed-line broadband subscribers with 50 Mbps connections or higher increased to over 272 mln, accounting for 75.2% of all fixed-line broadband users, while subscribers with 100 Mbps connections or higher reached 163 mln. FTTH subscribers grew by 6.69 mln to 308.45 mln. The country's number of IPTV subscribers reached 130 mln.
Mobile internet subscribers saw a net increase of 39.71 mln in March, bringing the total to 1.321 bln. Of this total, the number who access the Internet via a mobile handset was 1.22 bln, representing an 82.9% penetration rate among mobile phone service subscribers.
China's mobile Internet access traffic reached 4.28 bln GB during the month of March. Average mobile Internet access traffic per mobile subscriber in March was 3.29 GB, up 160% YoY. Total mobile internet traffic in the 3-month period from January through March hit 11.18 bln GB.
China's three main telecom operators, China Telecom (NYSE: CHA; 0728.HK), China Unicom (NYSE: CHU; 0762.HK; 600050.SH), and China Mobile (NYSE: CHL; 0941.HK), had mobile revenues of RMB 232.1 bln between Jan-Mar 2018, up 3.1% YoY. Mobile revenue accounted for 70.6% of total telecom revenues this period. The telecom operators' fixed-line communication revenues between Jan-Mar 2018 were RMB 96.7 bln, up 10.2% YoY. Fixed-line revenue accounted for 29.4% of total telecom revenues this period.
In Jan-Mar 2018, the three main telecom operators' fixed-line data and fixed-line internet revenues reached RMB 52.1 bln, up 7.1% YoY. The telecom operators' mobile data and mobile internet revenues were RMB 150.9 bln, up 15.2% YoY.
Keywords: national statistics wireless China Telecom China Mobile China Unicom fixed-line Internet mobile data broadband penetration revenue telecom 4G MIIT mobile subscribers SMS 3G broadband subscribers FTTH Internet access Internet traffic CHL 0728.HK 0762.HK 0941.HK 600050.SH CHA CHU mobile Internet IPTV subscribers fixed-line subscribers registered users mobile internet users bandwidth
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