Semi-annual report of Chinese operators: the number of 5G package users is nearly 500 million
According to the performance report for the first half of
2021 released by China's three major telecom operators, the number of 5G
package users in China has reached 495 million, which is one step away from 500
million.
On August 19, China Unicom announced its first half-year
financial report. So far, all the semi-annual reports of the three major
telecom operators have been released.
According to financial reports, as of the end of June, China
Telecom's 5G package users reached 131 million, with a penetration rate of
36.2%; China Mobile had 251 million, a net increase of 86 million in the first
half of the year; China Unicom had 113 million, with a penetration rate of
36.5%.
The rapid growth of users of 5G specialty applications, the
upgrade of users to 5G maintained good value growth, and the ARPU (average
revenue per user) of mobile users stopped falling and continued to rise. In the
first half of the year, China Telecom’s mobile user ARPU reached 45.7 yuan
(RMB, the same below), a year-on-year increase of 2.9%, and the growth rate was
further improved compared to the first quarter; China Mobile’s mobile user ARPU
was RMB 52.2, a year-on-year increase of 3.8%, a reversal since 2018 The
downward trend since the beginning of the year; China Unicom's mobile user ARPU
reached 44.4 yuan, an increase of 8.5% year-on-year.
Benefiting from the acceleration of China's economic and
social digital transformation, the three major telecom operators have improved
their performance in the first half of the year. In the first half of the year,
China Telecom’s operating income was 219.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year
increase of 13.1%; net profit was 17.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of
27.2%. After excluding one-off after-tax gains from the sale of subsidiaries,
it increased by 17.0% year-on-year.
China Mobile's operating income in the first half of the
year was 443.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.8%; profit
attributable to shareholders was 59.1 billion yuan, and earnings per share were
2.89 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.0%.
China Unicom's operating income in the first half of the
year reached RMB 164.2 billion, a year-on-year increase of 9.2%; the total
profit in the first half of the year exceeded 10 billion for the first time in
recent years, reaching RMB 11.2 billion; the net profit attributable to the
parent company reached RMB 4.03 billion, a year-on-year increase of 20.6% .
5G network construction is also proceeding as planned. In
the first half of 2021, China Telecom and China Unicom jointly established and
shared 80,000 5G base stations. The two parties have opened more than 460,000
5G base stations, and achieved a dual leadership in first-tier city coverage
and network perception. China Mobile's 5G-related investment totals 50.2
billion yuan. As of the end of June, a total of 501,000 5G base stations have
been opened to provide 5G services to urban areas above prefectures and cities,
some counties and key areas across the country.