Marbridge Daily

China's Three Main Telcos Report Q1 2026 Subscriber Totals

Marbridge Consulting, 4/23/26

The listed arms of China's three main telecom operators have announced their subscriber totals for the quarter ending December 31, 2025.

China Mobile

China Mobile (0941.HK; 600941.SH) reported a net gain of approximately 3.76 mln mobile subscribers during the quarter, raising the telecom operator's total mobile user base to nearly 1.009 bln.

During Q1 2026, China Mobile's number of 5G network customers reached approximately 668.00 mln, representing a net increase of 26.00 mln since the end of 2025.

China Mobile's total number of integrated broadband network customers rose to 333.12 mln in Q1 2026, representing a net increase of 3.90 mln since the end of 2025. China Mobile defines its integrated broadband network as including household broadband, enterprise broadband, dedicated Internet lines and dedicated data lines.

China Mobile's total number of cellular IoT card connections rose to 1.504 bln in Q1 2026, representing a net increase of approximately 22.33 mln since the end of 2025.

China Telecom

China Telecom (0728.HK; 601728.SH) saw its mobile subscriber base reach 440.55 mln in Q1 2026, representing a net increase of 1.90 mln since the end of 2025. Of this total, 314.13 mln were 5G network customers, representing a net increase of 12.32 mln since the end of 2025.

China Telecom reported its total number of fixed-line broadband subscribers (registered accounts) reached 201.56 mln during Q1 2026, representing a net increase of 0.44 mln since the end of 2025.

China Unicom

China Unicom (0762.HK; 600050.SH) reported that as of the end of Q1 2026, its aggregate number of "Connectivity" subscribers reached slightly over 1.290 bln, up 35.39 mln since the end of 2025. China Unicom's "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.

Among China Unicom's total Connectivity subscribers, 242.00 mln were 5G network customers, representing a net increase of 9.82 mln quarter-on-quarter; and 755.14 mln were Internet-of-things terminal connections, representing a net increase of 32.03 mln quarter-on-quarter.

China Unicom also reported that the number of major government and enterprise customers served by Unicom Cloud reached 0.438 mln by the end of Q1 2026, and the number of paying users for Unicom's Cloud-AI products reached 23,520. Government and enterprise customers of Unicom Cloud include industry cloud customers, cloud integration customers, partner public cloud customers, and cloud market customers. China Unicom's Cloud-AI products include Unicom Cloud Drive, Cloud-AI handsets, Unicom Home Monitoring, and Unicom UHD (Ultra-High-Definition).

China Broadnet

China's fourth 5G telecom network operator, China Broadnet, has not yet reported its Q4 2025 or Q1 2026 mobile subscriber totals, but as of the end of Q3 2025, had a total 5G user base of approximately 39.96 mln, according to statistics released on the website of China's National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA) on November 6, 2025. This figure represents net increases of approximately 4.50 mln quarter-on-quarter and 7.20 mln since the end of December 2024.

Broadnet is a relatively new mobile network operator, launching its first 5G network services in mid-2022, and is not yet reporting its 5G subscriber totals on a regular basis.

Editor's Note: A 5G network customer is defined as a mobile customer who has used the 5G network in the given quarter. 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"). Starting from 2025, all three of China's basic telecom operators have been reporting 5G network customer totals, rather than 5G package customer totals.

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 cellular IoT