Marbridge Daily

China's Three Main Telcos Add 5 Mln Mobile Subs in August 2019

Marbridge Consulting, 9/20/19

The listed arms of China's three main telecom operators have announced their subscriber totals for the month of August 2019, including a combined net addition of 5.08 mln mobile subscribers in China to reach a combined mobile subscriber base of almost 1.594 bln. The August figure is over 30% lower than the average monthly net addition of mobile subs in the preceding 12 months (i.e. August 2018 to July 2019), which was approximately 7.29 mln, and nearly 48% lower than the August 2018 net addition of 9.74 mln.

During the month of August 2019, China's three main operators reported a combined net addition of 12.59 mln 4G subscribers (the majority of which were simply existing 2G or 3G subs who upgraded to 4G) to reach a total combined 4G subscriber base of approximately 1.266 bln. 4G penetration among mobile subscribers hit approximately 79.4%.

China Mobile

China Mobile (NYSE: CHL; 0941.HK) reported a net addition of 2.64 mln new mobile subscribers for the month of August 2019, pushing the telecom operator's total mobile user base to 941.28 mln. Of the total, 745.87 mln subscribers used its 4G network during the month. China Mobile saw a net gain of 4.70 mln LTE subs in August.

China Mobile added 2.78 mln new fixed-line broadband subscribers (registered accounts) in August, increasing its total fixed-line broadband user base to 180.82 mln. Last September, China Mobile surpassed then-frontrunner China Telecom (NYSE: CHA; 0728.HK) to become China's largest fixed-line broadband operator by total registered accounts, and has since consistently padded its lead - now roughly 28 mln more than China Telecom's August 2019 month-end total of approximately 152 mln.

China Unicom

China Unicom (NYSE: CHU; 0762.HK; 600050.SH) reported a net addition of just 184,000 mobile billing subscribers in August 2019 to reach a total mobile billing user base of 324.65 mln. Of the total, 247.79 mln were 4G subscribers, with a net addition of 5.06 mln LTE subs during the month. China Unicom lost 0.04 mln fixed-line telephone subscribers in August, dropping its total to 54.26 mln. The operator added 0.30 mln fixed-line broadband subscribers (registered accounts) in August, increasing its total to 83.98 mln.

August marked the fourth consecutive month in which Unicom posted a net addition of fewer than 200,000 mobile subs, following net additions of just 57,000 in May, 24,000 in June, and 109,000 in July.

China Telecom

China Telecom (NYSE: CHA; 0728.HK) saw a net increase of 2.26 mln mobile subscribers in August, raising its total to 328.06 mln, of which 272.10 mln were 4G terminal users, with a net increase of 2.83 mln 4G terminal users in August. In July, China Telecom surpassed China Unicom to become the country's second largest mobile operator by total subscriber base, and in August pulled even further ahead.

China Telecom lost 0.61 mln fixed-line telephone subs in August, reducing its total to 112.51 mln. China Telecom gained 0.76 mln new fixed-line broadband subscribers (registered accounts) to reach 151.74 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 August 2019, the aggregate number of fixed-line broadband subscribers of China Telecom and CTC was 178 mln.

User Base Market Share by Operator

China Mobile's share of the nation's total mobile subscriber base as of the end of August 2019 dropped to 59.05%, down slightly compared to 59.07% at the end of July 2019 and 60.42% at the end of August 2018. China Unicom's share continued to slide to 20.37%, compared to 20.42% at the end of July 2019 and 20.33% at the end of August 2018, and China Telecom's share grew to 20.58%, up from 20.50% at the end of July 2019 and 19.25% at the end of August 2018.

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

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