Marbridge Daily

China's MIIT Releases Preliminary 2022 Telecom Industry Statistics

MIIT, 1/19/23

Mainland China's telecom industry revenues reached RMB 1.58 trln in 2022, representing a year-on-year increase of 8.0%, according to preliminary figures released today by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

Wireline Broadband Service Revenue Up 7.1%

In 2022, China's total wireline broadband service revenues reached RMB 240.2 bln, up 7.1% YoY, accounting for 15.2% of total telecom industry revenues (down 0.1 percentage points from 15.3% in 2021), and driving growth of telecom industry revenues by 1.1 percentage points.

Mobile Data Traffic Revenue Up Just 0.3%

In 2022, China's mobile data traffic revenues reached RMB 639.7 bln, up just 0.3% YoY, accounting for 40.5% of telecom industry revenues (down 2.8 percentage points from 43.3% in 2021), and driving growth of total telecom industry revenues by 0.1 percentage points.

Emerging Services Revenue Grew Rapidly

In 2022, China's revenues from emerging services - such as such as internet data centers, big data, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things (IoT) - reached RMB 307.2 bln, up 32.4% YoY, accounting for 19.4% of total telecom industry revenues (up 3.3 percentage points from 16.1% in 2021), and driving growth of telecom industry revenues by 5.1 percentage points. Among these, data center services, cloud computing , big data, and IoT revenues grew by 11.5%, 118.2%, 58.0%, and 24.7% YoY, respectively.

Mobile Voice Service Revenue Turned from Negative to Positive

In 2022, China's fixed voice service revenues reached RMB 20.14 bln, down 9.5% YoY, and mobile voice service revenues reached RMB 116.3 bln, up 0.8% YoY (reversing the negative growth trend in 2021). Fixed and mobile voice service revenues combined accounted for 8.6% of total telecom industry revenues, a decrease of 0.8 percentage points year-on-year.

Mobile Subs Up 41 Mln, Fixed-Line Phone Users Down Over 1 Mln

In 2022, China’s total number of mobile phone subscribers reached 1.683 bln, representing a net increase of 40.62 mln since the end of 2021, and the mobile phone subscriber penetration rate reached 119.2 per 100 people, an increase of 2.9 percentage points since the end of 2021. Among them, the total number of 5G mobile phone subs reached 561 mln, accounting for 33.3% of China’s mobile phone subs, up 11.7 percentage points from the end of 2021.

China’s total number of fixed-line telephone users (registered accounts) reached 179 mln, representing a net decrease of 1.286 mln since the end of 2021, and the penetration rate fell to 12.7 per 100 people, a decrease of 0.1 percentage points from the end of 2021.

Wireline Broadband Access User Base Up 54 Mln

In 2022, the combined number of wireline broadband access users of China’s three basic telecom service operators reached 590 mln, representing a net increase of 53.86 mln since the end of 2021. Among them, the number of users with an access rate of 100 Mbps or higher was 554 mln, representing a net increase of 55.13 mln for the year, and accounting for 93.9% of the total number of users, an increase of 0.8 percentage points since the end of 2021; the number of users with an access rate of 1,000 Mbps or higher was 91.75 mln, representing a net increase of 57.16 mln for the year, and accounting for 15.6% of the total number of users, an increase of 9.1 percentage points since the end of 2021.

In 2022, deployment of wireline broadband access services in China’s rural areas continued to accelerate, reaching a total of 176 mln registered accounts, representing a net increase of 18.62 mln, or 11.8%, since the end of 2021. This growth rate was 2.5 percentage points higher than the growth rate in China’s urban areas.

Cellular Internet of Things User Base Expands Rapidly

In 2022, the combined total cellular IoT users of China’s three basic telecom service operators reached 1.845 bln, representing a net increase of 447 mln since the end of 2021. This figure is 161 mln higher than the number of mobile phone subscribers, and accounts for 52.3% of the three operators’ combined number of mobile network terminal connections (including mobile phone subs and cellular IoT subs). China’s number of cellular IoT users first surpassed its number of mobile phone subs at the end of August 2022, when total cellular IoT users reached 1.698 bln and total mobile phone subs reached 1.678 bln.

China's Cellular IoT & Mobile Phone User Totals: 2017-2022

IPTV User Base Reaches 380 Mln

In 2022, the total number of IPTV (Internet TV) users served by China’s three basic telecom operators reached 380 mln, representing a net increase of 31.92 mln since the end of 2021.

Mobile Internet Traffic Volume Up 18% YoY

In 2022, China’s total mobile Internet access traffic reached 261.8 bln GB, up 18.1% YoY. Average monthly mobile Internet traffic (DOU) per user across full-year 2022 reached 15.2 GB per user, up 13.8% YoY, while DOU in the month of December reached 16.18 GB per user, an increase of 1.46 GB per user from the end of the previous year.

China's Mobile Internet Access Traffic & DOU: 2017-2022

SMS Volume Up 6.4%; Mobile Call Minutes Up 1.5% YoY

In 2022, China’s total mobile short message service (SMS) volume increased by 6.4% YoY, and SMS business revenue rose by 2.7% YoY.

China’s total duration of outbound mobile phone calls was 2.3 trln minutes, up just 1.5% YoY.

Telecom Fixed Asset Investment Up 3.3% YoY

In 2022, China’s three basic telecom service operators and China Tower Corporation completed a total investment of RMB 419.3 bln in telecom fixed assets, up 3.3% over the previous year. Of this total, 5G investment came to RMB 180.3 bln, down 2.5% YoY due to factors such as a high base in 2021, accounting for 43% of all telecom fixed asset investment.

Network Infrastructure Optimized and Upgraded

In 2022, China deployed a total of 4.772 mln kilometers of new optical cable lines, bringing the total length of national optical cable lines to 59.58 mln kilometers. Of this total, long-distance optical cable lines, local network relay optical cable lines, and access network optical cable lines comprised 1.095 mln, 21.46 mln, and 37.02 mln kilometers, respectively.

In 2022, China’s number of broadband access ports reached 1.071 bln, a net increase of 53.2 mln since the end of 2021. Of this total, the number of optical fiber access (FTTH/O) ports reached 1.025 bln, a net increase of 65.34 mln since the end of 2021, and FTTH/O as a proportion of total broadband access ports increased from 94.3% at the end of the previous year to 95.7%. In 2022, China’s number of 10G PON ports with Gigabit network service capabilities reached 15.23 mln, a net increase of 7.371 mln since the end of 2021.

China Adds 870,000 5G Base Stations

In 2022, China deployed an additional 870,000 mobile network base stations, bringing its total to 10.83 mln. Among these, China’s total number of 5G base stations reached 2.312 mln, a net increase of 887,000 from the end of 2021, accounting for 21.3% of China's total number of mobile base stations, an increase of 7.0 percentage points from the end of 2021.

Number of Telecom Operator IDC Racks Up 11.4% YoY

In 2022, the number of Internet data center racks provided by China’s three basic telecom operators to the public reached 818,000, a net increase of 84,000, or 11.4%, since the end of 2021.

Note: The 2022 figures in this bulletin are preliminary statistics, while the 2021 figures represent finalized statistics released in the MIIT's 2021 annual telecom industry statistics report. All statistics exclude Hong Kong and Macao. Due to rounding, there may be some discrepancies between totals and the sum of sub-totals.

Keywords: wireless national statistics Internet broadband revenue telecom network construction MIIT 5G cloud computing big data IoT base station Internet data center mobile network equipment call time