Marbridge Daily

China's Three Main Telcos Add 6 Mln Mobile Subs in February 2019

Marbridge Consulting, 3/20/19

The listed arms of China's three main telecom operators have announced their subscriber totals for the month of February 2019, including a combined net addition of 6.01 mln mobile subscribers in China to reach a combined mobile subscriber base of over 1.558 bln. The total net addition in February was considerably lower than the average monthly addition of 9.95 mln over the 12-month period from February 2018 to January 2019, largely due to the long Chinese Lunar New Year holiday at the beginning of February this year, but also to a gradual decrease in the monthly number of new mobile subs since mid-2018 as the overall penetration rate increases. As of the end of 2018, China's mobile subscriber penetration rate had exceeded 112%, according to statistics from China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

During the month of February 2019, China's three main operators reported a combined net addition of 8.20 mln 4G subscribers (some of whom were simply existing 2G or 3G subs who upgraded to 4G) to reach a total combined 4G subscriber base of over 1.195 bln. 4G penetration among mobile subscribers hit approximately 76.7%.

China Mobile (NYSE: CHL; 0941.HK) reported a net addition of 1.09 mln new mobile subscribers in February, pushing the telecom operator's total mobile user base to 928.57 mln. Of the total, 719.06 mln subscribers used its LTE networks during the month. China Mobile saw a net addition of 2.15 mln new LTE subs in February. China Mobile added 1.96 mln new fixed-line broadband subscribers (registered accounts) in February, increasing its total fixed-line broadband user base to 163.50 mln.

China Unicom (NYSE: CHU; 0762.HK; 600050.SH) reported a net addition of 1.96 mln mobile billing subscribers during the month of February 2019, pushing the telecom operator's total mobile billing user base to 319.76 mln. Of the total, 225.68 mln were 4G subscribers, with a net addition of 2.84 mln LTE subs during the month. China Unicom lost 0.37 mln fixed-line telephone subscribers in February, dropping its total to 55.15 mln. The operator added 0.38 mln fixed-line broadband subscribers (registered accounts) in February, increasing its total to 81.89 mln.

China Telecom (NYSE: CHA; 0728.HK) reported a net increase of 2.96 mln mobile subscribers in February, raising its total to 310.22 mln, of which 250.59 mln were 4G terminal users, with a net increase of 3.22 mln 4G terminal users in February. China Telecom lost 0.74 mln fixed-line telephone subs in February, reducing its total to 115.59 mln. China Telecom gained 0.52 mln new fixed-line broadband subscribers (registered accounts) to reach 147.04 mln; if also including the fixed-line broadband subscribers of China Telecom's (i.e. China Telecom Corporation Limited's) parent company, China Telecommunications Corporation ("CTC"), as of the end of February 2019, the aggregate number of fixed-line broadband subscribers of China Telecom and CTC was 172 mln.

China Mobile's share of China's total mobile subscriber base as of the end of February 2019 decreased to 59.58%, compared to 59.74% at the end of January 2019 and 61.97% at the end of February 2018. China Unicom's share increased to 20.52%, compared to 20.47% at the end of January 2019 and 20.08% at the end of February 2018, and China Telecom's share grew to 19.90%, up from 19.79% at the end of January 2019 and 17.96% at the end of February 2018.

Mobile Subscriber Stats for China's Main Three Carriers (Unit: Mln)

Keywords: national statistics China Telecom China Mobile China Unicom broadband penetration telecom 4G China Telecom Corporation Limited China Telecommunications Corporation mobile subscribers broadband subscribers LTE CHL 0728.HK 0762.HK 0941.HK 600050.SH CHA CHU fixed-line subscribers market share