China Mobile Communications

Performance indicators

2024:1 billion mobile subscribers in China

As of the end of June 2024, the number of mobile subscribers of the China Mobile operator in China reached 1 billion. For comparison, a year earlier this figure was about 985 million. Thus, an increase of 1.5% was recorded. This is stated in the company's report published on August 8, 2024.

It is noted that China Mobile serves 514.2 million users of 5G services. A year earlier, approximately 393 million subscribers were connected to the fifth generation network. On an annualized basis, the figure rose 30.8%. By the end of the second quarter of 2024, the share of 5G users in the total subscriber base of China Mobile reached 51.4%. The number of users of 5G New Calling services based on high-definition video has risen to 129 million.

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Bloomberg

It is said that in terms of the number of 5G users, China Mobile significantly surpasses its main competitors - operators China Unicom and China Telecom. Thus, the number of 5G subscribers from China Telecom in the first half of 2024 increased by 18% - to 336.6 million, while the penetration rate of fifth-generation networks exceeded 80%. The number of 5G users of China Unicom increased by 16.5 million to 276.2 million by the end of the second quarter of 2024. Overall, 5G services in China continue to gain popularity rapidly.

The published report also said that the number of subscribers of fixed broadband China Mobile at the end of June 2024 was 309.2 million. This is 7.9% more than the result of a year ago, when the company served 286 million such customers. The number of households connected to the Internet through broadband channels increased by 6.8% year-on-year - from 255 million to 272 million. Moreover, the share of connections with gigabit bandwidth accounted for 33.5% of the total.^[1]

2022: Revenue growth 10.5% to 937.26 billion yuan

The revenue of the Chinese telecommunications company China Mobile in 2022 reached 937.26 billion yuan ($136.1 billion at the exchange rate as of March 27, 2023). This is 10.5% more than the result shown a year earlier. The corresponding figures are displayed in the financial report published on March 23, 2023.

Actually, telecommunications services brought 812.06 billion yuan ($117.92 billion), and the growth in relation to 2021 amounted to 8.1%. In the digital transformation segment, which includes cloud computing, revenue rose 30.3%. Net profit on an annualized basis increased by 8% - from 116.15 billion yuan to 125.46 billion yuan (approximately $18.22 billion).

China Mobile's revenue in 2022 reached 937.26 billion yuan

The total subscriber base of one of the world's largest mobile operators in 2022 reached 975 million. This is 1.9% more compared to 2021, when China Mobile served 957 million users. The number of consumers of 5G packaged services jumped 58.7% on an annualized basis - from 387 million to 614 million. The average income per mobile subscriber was about $7.12, rising 0.4% compared to 2021.

The broadband Internet access (broadband access) segment also showed an increase: the number of subscribers for the year rose from 240 million to 272 million, which corresponds to an increase of 13.4%. Households accounted for 244 million connections against 218 million a year earlier - plus 11.8%. The average check was $6.11. It is noted that the number of corporate broadband access users increased by 23.2% over the year and reached 23.2 million against 18.83 million in 2021. In the field of the Internet of Things, the total number of connections in 2022 amounted to 1.06 billion. For comparison: a year earlier, this figure was approximately 806 million. Thus, in this area, an increase of about 31.8% was demonstrated^[2]

Company history

2024

Buying control from smartphone manufacturer Honor

On August 23, 2024, smartphone maker Honor announced an investment from China Mobile Communication, China's largest mobile operator. The amount of funds received as of the specified date was not disclosed. Read more here

Purchase of 8 thousand AI servers for $2 billion

On April 24, 2024, it became known that the Chinese telecommunications company China Mobile, serving more than 1 billion customers, will purchase about 8 thousand productive servers for tasks related to artificial intelligence. The total cost of equipment may exceed 15 billion yuan ($2.07 billion at the exchange rate as of the specified date).

It is noted that we are talking about the largest purchase of AI systems in the history of China. It is known that the equipment is planned to be commissioned until 2025. Equipment supplies can be distributed among seven manufacturers. In addition to servers, China Mobile will also purchase switches. For what purpose the equipment is purchased is not specified. Operator China Mobile manages a hyperscale cloud, and therefore servers can be deployed to provide new AI-related services. In addition, network sources say that the company can deploy specialized generative applications.

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Freepik

Amid US sanctions, other Chinese telecom operators are also purchasing AI equipment. According to The Register, China Unicom has placed an order for the purchase of approximately 2,500 servers. China Telecom is taking similar actions.

At the same time, market participants say that there is no clarity about the source of AI accelerators for Chinese servers. The fact is that China's own solutions in this area cannot be compared in performance with Nvidia products. American manufacturers can theoretically obtain a license from the US authorities to supply AI accelerators to Chinese customers. But in the case of China Mobile, such permission is unlikely to be given, since this company, as well as China Unicom and China Telecom, is considered by the American authorities as an organization associated with the military structures of the PRC.^[3]

Launch of the world's first commercial network 5.5G

At the end of March 2024, China Mobile, the largest mobile operator in China and the world, announced the launch of the first commercial 5G-A network (5G-Advanced). This is a new fifth-generation cellular standard, also known as 5.5G. Read more here.

2023

Purchase of stake in Postal Savings Bank of China

On March 30, 2023, it became known that the telecommunications company China Mobile entered into an agreement to acquire a stake in Postal Savings Bank of China, a Chinese postal savings bank. The deal amounted to 45 billion yuan (approximately $6.54 billion at the exchange rate as of March 30, 2023). Read more here.

Getting Started on 6G Networks

China Mobile cooperates with dozens of equipment operators and manufacturers as part of a large-scale project to develop and implement sixth generation (6G) cellular technologies. This is stated in a document released in mid-February 2023 by the Next Generation Mobile Network Alliance (NGMN). Read more here.

2021

Import substitution of foreign equipment

The U.S. and many of its allies have restricted the use of 5G cellular equipment manufactured by China's Huawei Technologies Co. Now Beijing is doing the same for Huawei's Western rivals.

China Mobile Ltd., in July 2021 gave just 5.4% of its latest tenders for 5G equipment to non-Chinese suppliers, up from 11% in the previous round in 2020.

In a $6 billion dollars tender, China Mobile gave the company Huawei about 60.5%, up from 57.7% in last year's round. 31.2% of the ZTE company and 2.8% of smaller Chinese supplier Datang Telecom Group.

Nokia received the largest share for a foreign company, 3.5%. The Swedish Ericsson lost the most, which, having won all 11% in 2020, dropped to 1.9%.

Share delisting with NYSE

In early January 2021, the New York Stock Exchange announced the imminent termination of trading in shares of Chinese telecommunications operators China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom Hong Kong. The delisting procedure has been launched, the exclusion of quotations from the NYSE of these companies will take place from January 7 to 11, 2021.

Chinese authorities called the exchange's decision political, noting that the consequences of the move for companies would be limited. The US Department of Commerce said the agency will take the necessary measures to protect the interests of Chinese companies.

Shares of China's biggest carriers removed from NYSE amid U.S. sanctions

In 2020, US President Donald Trump issued an executive order banning any American operations with securities related to "communist Chinese military companies." The statement of the head of state noted that these companies raise funds, including American investors, having achieved the inclusion of their shares in stock indices, and then direct them to the development of the Chinese military-industrial complex. The decree of the head of the White House comes into force on January 11, 2021.

According to Bloomberg, the decision of the New York Exchange to exclude shares of China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom Hong Kong looks symbolic, since the presence of Chinese operators in the United States is minimal. At the same time, the securities of the listed Chinese telecom giants are traded on the stock exchange in Hong Kong.

For China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom Hong Kong, however, the problem is that tougher sanctions could follow the US exchange's decision. The fact is that the first accusation of cooperation with the Chinese military and the collection of information was received by the Chinese manufacturer of telecom equipment Huawei. After the scandal with him, the United States began to compile a list of companies that are engaged in similar actions.^[4]

2019: Signing of Protocol of Intent by China Mobile Research Institute with ZTE

On February 27, 2019, ZTE Corporation, an international provider of telecommunications solutions, as well as corporate and consumer technologies for mobile Internet, announced the signing of a protocol of intent for the joint development of the operator-defined latest generation intelligent network RAN (O-RAN) in collaboration with the China Mobile Research Institute. Read more here.

2018

Opening of an official representative office in Russia

On September 21, 2018, the operator China Mobile announced the opening of an office in Russia. The company sees for itself three main strategic areas of development - B2O (operators), B2B (corporate clients) and B2C (mobile users). In the first direction, the company's plans include cooperation with large mobile operators in the field of IoT and 4G terminal devices. China Mobile will focus on the development of the corporate segment by servicing companies doing business with the Asian region, as well as providing cloud services in the Russian Federation. As for the service of mobile users, it is the provision of roaming services and the launch of GlobalDataSim.

According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Igor Sorokin is indicated as the CEO of the company.

Chairman of the Board and CEO of China Mobile International Co., Ltd. Li Feng stressed that relations between Russia and China are becoming stronger, and the trade and economic partnership is strengthening.

By the way, at the opening ceremony, China Mobile International Russia signed a cooperation agreement with Park Huamin LLC. The agreement provides that the Russian subsidiary of China Mobile will provide digital communication services (in particular, data transfer services) to the Chinese business center in Moscow. At the same time, the company added that several large projects are already at the signing stage.

Also, the Russian subsidiary China Mobile will offer business solutions for Russian companies entering the Chinese market, concluding agreements with Russian operators^[5].

China Mobile may be denied the right to work in the United States

The National Telecommunications USA and Information Administration (NTIA) issued a statement in early July 2018 recommending that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reject China Mobile's application for telecommunication services in the United States. The department explained its decision on national security grounds^[6]

China Mobile is the world's largest mobile operator by number of subscribers. Its subscriber base exceeds 849 million. The second place in this indicator is occupied by Vodafone holding, which serves more than 460 million subscribers by various legal entities.

NTIA is concerned about the fact that China Mobile is highly dependent on the Chinese state - its largest shareholder (at the time of filing an application with the FCC, the PRC Government owned 74% of the company's shares) and can, at its request, issue personal data and records of negotiations of American subscribers to the state structures of the PRC.

"Even if China Mobile does use protected equipment, as it claims, the risk that China Mobile will pose as the operator of this equipment negates any merit of its security," the NTIA said in a statement.

According to officials from the NTIA, any foreign company whose share of the state exceeds 10% should be subject to the most thorough verification.

2015: Large contract with Alcatel-Lucent

In early July 2015, it became known that China Mobile would purchase telecommunications equipment and software from Alcatel-Lucent in the amount of 4.53 billion yuan ($729 million). The contract is designed for two years.

Under its terms, Alcatel-Lucent will supply China Mobile with equipment for deploying mobile (4G) and fixed-line networks, routers and hardware solutions for optical network infrastructure, as well as software products for launching VoLTE services, Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV).

2012

661 million users of China Mobile services

The services of the company in February 2012 were used by 661 million people.

Change of leadership

In March 2012, Wang Jianzhou, Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of China Mobile Communications Corp, resigned from his posts due to old age. In this position, he was replaced by Si Gohua, who is the representative of the Communist Party in the organization^[7] the^[7].

It is worth noting that in fact Wang Jianzhou is only 62 years old, while his successor turned 60.

This is the second major resignation in the company in the last few months. Earlier, one of the directors, Lu Xiangdong, who resigned "for personal reasons," left his post.

Si Gohua is an engineer by training. Previously, he held several high posts in the country's government and telecommunications business. In particular, he was Deputy Minister of Industry and Information Technology.

It is expected that during the leadership of Xi, the company will expand its 3G network and gradually switch to new generation communication formats. Capital expenditures in 2012 should be about 132 billion yuan (21 billion dollars).

2011

China Mobile is the largest telecommunications corporation in the world in terms of subscribers and revenue. Net income in 2011 amounted to almost $20 billion, an increase of 5% compared to the previous year.

Notes