Marbridge Daily

MIIT: China's Jan-Feb 2019 Telecom Industry Revenues Exceed RMB 220 Bln

MIIT, 3/26/19

China's telecom industry revenues for Jan-Feb 2019 reached RMB 220.8 bln (USD 32.86 bln), up 1.9% YoY, according to newly released telecom industry statistics from China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

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 151.3 bln between Jan-Feb 2019, down 1.9% YoY. Mobile revenue accounted for 68.5% of total telecom industry service revenues this period. The telecom operators' fixed-line communication revenues between Jan-Feb 2019 were RMB 69.5 bln, up 11.2% YoY. Fixed-line revenue accounted for 31.5% of total telecom industry service revenues this period, up 2.7 percentage points compared to the same period in 2018.

In Jan-Feb 2019, the three main telecom operators' mobile data and mobile internet revenues reached RMB 103.3 bln, up 4.9% YoY, and accounting for 46.8% of their total telecom service revenues during the period. The telecom operators' fixed-line data and internet revenues were RMB 35.4 bln, up 2.2% YoY, and accounting for 16.0% of their total telecom service revenues during the period.

In February, China's total number of mobile service subscribers increased by 3.84 mln to reach almost 1.584 bln, up 9.9% YoY.

Mobile internet subscribers (3G and 4G service subscribers) totaled 1.325 bln by the end of February 2019, representing a penetration rate among total mobile service subscribers of 83.7%. Of this total, the number who access the Internet via a mobile handset was 1.273 bln, representing an 80.1% penetration rate among mobile service subscribers.

China's mobile Internet access traffic reached 16.3 bln GB during the 2-month period from Jan-Feb 2019, up 136.1% YoY. Of this figure, total mobile Internet access traffic from mobile phones was 16.2 bln GB, up 141.0% YoY, and accounting for 99.5% of China's total mobile Internet traffic during the period. Average mobile Internet access traffic per mobile subscriber in the month of February was 6.1 GB, up 132.3% YoY.

Keywords: wireless national statistics fixed-line Internet mobile data penetration revenue telecom MIIT Internet access Internet traffic mobile Internet mobile internet users