China's Three Main Telcos Report May 2024 Subscriber Totals
Marbridge Consulting, 6/20/24
The listed arms of China's three main telecom operators have announced their subscriber totals for the month of May 2024.
China Mobile
China Mobile (0941.HK; 600941.SH) reported a net gain of 1.08 mln mobile subscribers during the month, increasing the telecom operator's total mobile user base to 998.44 mln.
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 May, China Mobile's total number of 5G network customers increased by 7.69 mln to reach 502.56 mln.
China Mobile's total number of fixed-line broadband subscribers (registered accounts) rose to 307.52 mln in May, up 1.12 mln month-on-month and up 9.28 mln since the end of 2023.
China Telecom
China Telecom (0728.HK; 601728.SH) saw a net increase of 1.93 mln mobile subscribers in May, raising its total to 415.38 mln, of which 334.26 mln were 5G package subscribers. During the month, the operator's 5G package subscriber base rose by 2.64 mln subscribers.
China Telecom lost 0.39 mln fixed-line telephone subs in May, reducing its total to 99.42 mln.
China Telecom reported a net increase of 0.54 mln fixed-line broadband subscribers (registered accounts) during the month, raising its total to 192.84 mln.
China Unicom
China Unicom (0762.HK; 600050.SH) reported that as of the end of May 2024, its aggregate number of "Big Connectivity" subscribers reached nearly 1.053 bln, up 12.07 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, 273.78 mln were 5G package subscribers, representing a net gain of 2.63 mln month-on-month; and 550.83 mln were Internet-of-things terminal connections, up 10.38 mln month-on-month.
China Unicom also reported that its number of customers served by virtual 5G industry private network for the month of May was 11,123 up 563 month-on-month.
China Broadnet
China's fourth 5G telecom network operator, China Broadnet, saw its 5G user base surpass 23 mln by the end of 2023, according to statistics published on February 20 by China's National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA). On May 8, NRTA also published its "2023 National Radio and Television Industry Statistics Report", providing the same 2023-year-end figure (i.e. 23 mln 5G subs for China Broadnet), but has not issued any more recent update to China Broadnet's 5G subscriber total.
Broadnet officially launched 5G network services just 24 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 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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