Analysis of the Defects of China Mobile Users

February 21, 2013 News, China Mobile’s subscriber growth in January this year reached a record high of 7.051 million subscribers, which triggered a high degree of concern in the industry because China Mobile’s total number of subscribers did not increase at the same time, but dropped sharply. Mobile is implementing a plan to migrate large-scale 2G users to 3G.

According to data released by China Mobile, China Mobile recorded a net increase of 7.051 million 3G customers in January, but China Mobile’s total subscribers increased by only 4.378 million. This shows that on the one hand China Mobile's 3G subscribers have added a few new highs in a single month, compared with last year. The number of passengers arriving in December was 5.499 million. The growth rate accelerated by 28%. On the other hand, this also shows that China Mobile’s 2G subscribers have decreased, and the number of losses has reached 2.67 million.

Prior to this, China Mobile has been slow to grow 3G users, but 2G users still maintain inertia growth. For example, in the first half of last year, China Mobile’s monthly number of new 3G users did not exceed 2.5 million. In July of last year, China Mobile’s 3G users added only 1.9 million. In August last year, the newly added 3G users finally achieved 3.16 million, and finally exceeded 3 million.

In the past, China Mobile’s 2G subscribers have never experienced negative growth. In January of this year, China Mobile lost 2.67 million 2G subscribers. The industry believes that this does not mean that these subscribers are really lost. It is likely that 2G subscribers have switched to 3G subscribers. Currently, China Mobile has Strengthened the promotion of 3G terminals, while using terminal subsidies to attract 2G users to 3G.

To attract 2G users to 3G, China Mobile has an urgent need because China Mobile hopes to do 4G as early as possible, and it hopes to lay as many 3G user bases as possible for 4G.

January domestic three major operators user data

The three major operators in China announced their January operational data respectively. China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom’s 3G subscriber numbers exceeded 90 million, 80 million and 70 million respectively.

• China Mobile’s 3G subscribers increased by 7.07 million in January

China Mobile today released operating data for January. It added 4.378 million subscribers this month and accumulated a total of 715 million subscribers. Among them, 3,071.10 million subscribers were newly added, and cumulative subscribers reached 9,499,000. This again set a new high for 3G subscribers.

In January, China Mobile’s monthly new subscribers rebounded, reaching 4.387 million. From the data point of view, China Mobile has increased the pace of its own 2G users' transfer to 3G. After the number of 3G users has increased by 5.499 million last month, the number of newly added users reached a record high of 7.051 million this month.

• China Unicom's 3G subscribers exceeded 80 million in January, adding 3.67 million

China Unicom released January operational data today. It added 3.697 million 3G subscribers this month and accumulated 80.125 million subscribers. China Unicom’s new subscribers this month were 3.605 million. After the 2G subscribers first lost in December 2012, they reappeared. The total number of new users added is lower than the total number of newly added 3G users. The total number of mobile users has reached 242.917 million.

In terms of fixed-line services, in January, China Unicom’s local fixed-line subscribers increased by 128,000 to a total of 92.058 million. Broadband users added 682,000 new subscribers and accumulated 64.551 million subscribers.

• China Telecom’s 3G subscribers surpass 70 million in January, adding 3.01 million

China Telecom today released operational data for January, adding 3.10 million 3G subscribers and 72.06 million cumulative subscribers.

In January, China Telecom added 2.56 million CDMA subscribers, and the total number of mobile subscribers reached 163.8 million.

In terms of fixed network services, in January, China Telecom’s local fixed-line subscribers decreased by 230,000 to a total of 162.7 million. Broadband users added 950,000, totaling 91.07 million.