Marbridge Daily

China's Three Main Telcos Add 11 Mln Mobile Subs in March 2019

Marbridge Consulting, 4/29/19

The listed arms of China's three main telecom operators have announced their subscriber totals for the month of March 2019, including a combined net addition of 11.03 mln mobile subscribers in China to reach a combined mobile subscriber base of nearly 1.570 bln. The total net addition in March was nearly 15% higher than the average monthly addition of 9.60 mln over the 12-month period from March 2018 to February 2019.

During the month of March 2019, China's three main operators reported a combined net addition of 14.53 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 nearly 1.210 bln. 4G penetration among mobile subscribers hit approximately 77.1%.

China Mobile (NYSE: CHL; 0941.HK) reported a net addition of 2.82 mln new mobile subscribers in March, pushing the telecom operator's total mobile user base to 931.39 mln. Of the total, 723.32 mln subscribers used its LTE networks during the month. China Mobile saw a net addition of 4.26 mln new LTE subs in March. China Mobile added 3.53 mln new fixed-line broadband subscribers (registered accounts) in March, increasing its total fixed-line broadband user base to 167.03 mln.

China Unicom (NYSE: CHU; 0762.HK; 600050.SH) reported a net addition of 3.38 mln mobile billing subscribers during the month of March 2019, pushing the telecom operator's total mobile billing user base to 323.14 mln. Of the total, 230.44 mln were 4G subscribers, with a net addition of 4.77 mln LTE subs during the month. China Unicom lost 0.23 mln fixed-line telephone subscribers in March, dropping its total to 54.92 mln. The operator added 0.50 mln fixed-line broadband subscribers (registered accounts) in March, increasing its total to 82.39 mln.

China Telecom (NYSE: CHA; 0728.HK) reported a net increase of 4.83 mln mobile subscribers in March, raising its total to 315.05 mln, of which 256.10 mln were 4G terminal users, with a net increase of 5.510 mln 4G terminal users in March. China Telecom lost 0.42 mln fixed-line telephone subs in March, reducing its total to 115.17 mln. China Telecom gained 0.83 mln new fixed-line broadband subscribers (registered accounts) to reach 147.87 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 March 2019, the aggregate number of fixed-line broadband subscribers of China Telecom and CTC was 174 mln.

China Mobile's share of China's total mobile subscriber base as of the end of March 2019 decreased to 59.34%, compared to 59.58% at the end of February 2019 and 61.64% at the end of March 2018. China Unicom's share increased to 20.59%, compared to 20.52% at the end of February 2019 and 20.16% at the end of March 2018, and China Telecom's share grew to 20.07%, up from 19.90% at the end of February 2019 and 18.20% at the end of March 2018.

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

Keywords: wireless national statistics China Telecom China Mobile China Unicom fixed-line broadband penetration telecom 4G China Telecom Corporation Limited China Telecommunications Corporation mobile subscribers 3G broadband subscribers CHL 0728.HK 0762.HK 0941.HK 600050.SH CHA CHU fixed-line subscribers market share