Marbridge Daily

China's Three Main Telcos Add 5 Mln Mobile Subs in April; China Mobile Loses 4G Subs

Marbridge Consulting, 5/20/19

The listed arms of China's three main telecom operators have announced their subscriber totals for the month of April 2019, including a combined net addition of 4.81 mln mobile subscribers in China to reach a combined mobile subscriber base of over 1.574 bln. The April figure represents the lowest net addition of mobile subs in China since February 2017.

During the month of April 2019, China's three main operators reported a combined net addition of 5.96 mln 4G subscribers (some of which were simply existing 2G or 3G subs who upgraded to 4G) to reach a total combined 4G subscriber base of just under 1.216 bln. 4G penetration among mobile subscribers hit approximately 77.2%.

China Mobile (NYSE: CHL; 0941.HK) reported a net addition of 0.16 mln new mobile subscribers in April, pushing the telecom operator's total mobile user base to 931.55 mln. Of the total, 722.60 mln subscribers used its LTE networks during the month. China Mobile saw a net loss of 0.72 mln LTE subs in April. China Mobile added 1.79 mln new fixed-line broadband subscribers (registered accounts) in April, increasing its total fixed-line broadband user base to 168.82 mln.

China Unicom (NYSE: CHU; 0762.HK; 600050.SH) reported a net addition of 1.14 mln mobile billing subscribers during the month of April 2019, pushing the telecom operator's total mobile billing user base to 324.27 mln. Of the total, 233.05 mln were 4G subscribers, with a net addition of 2.61 mln LTE subs during the month. China Unicom lost 0.28 mln fixed-line telephone subscribers in April, dropping its total to 54.65 mln. The operator added 0.35 mln fixed-line broadband subscribers (registered accounts) in April, increasing its total to 82.74 mln.

China Telecom (NYSE: CHA; 0728.HK) saw a net increase of 3.51 mln mobile subscribers in April, raising its total to 318.56 mln, of which 260.17 mln were 4G terminal users, with a net increase of 4.07 mln 4G terminal users in April. China Telecom lost 0.53 mln fixed-line telephone subs in April, reducing its total to 114.64 mln. China Telecom gained 0.62 mln new fixed-line broadband subscribers (registered accounts) to reach 148.49 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 April 2019, the aggregate number of fixed-line broadband subscribers of China Telecom and CTC was 175 mln.

China Mobile's share of China's total mobile subscriber base as of the end of April 2019 decreased to 59.17%, compared to 59.34% at the end of March 2019 and 61.30% at the end of April 2018. China Unicom's share increased to 20.60%, compared to 20.59% at the end of March 2019 and 20.24% at the end of April 2018, and China Telecom's share grew to 20.23%, up from 20.07% at the end of March 2019 and 18.46% at the end of April 2018.

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

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