China is a World Leader in 5G Services Rollout
China forges ahead with 6G research and development
Notwithstanding the presence of three major operators (ostensibly in competition with each other), the development of China's mobile sector has largely been propelled by government policy. The telecommunications sector (and industry, given the large number of equipment manufacturers based in China) is seen as a critical element to support the country's economic growth as well as to be at the forefront of technological progress. This relatively progressive stance has helped China become the world's largest mobile market - at least in terms of subscriber numbers.
China's 5G subscription rate has grown considerably over the last two years, with market leader China Mobile increasing its user base by 50 million (a 30% increase) in just the fourth quarter of 2021 alone. China Telecom and China Unicom joined forces early-on in a 5G infrastructure sharing agreement. The two companies expect to increase the number of 5G base stations around the country by 250,000 in 2022, to reach 900,000 sites by the end of the year. With such growth, China is likely to account for two thirds of all 5G connections worldwide by 2025.
But the rapid take-up hasn't all been due to market forces. The MNOs were initially reluctant to invest in 5G, seeing little consumer demand for the higher speed service as well as a surplus of capacity on existing 4G networks. The government saw things differently however, and drove the state-owned operators to invest heavily in 5G. It may still be too early to determine whether that bet will pay off, yet China is not waiting around to find out; the country is powering ahead on 6G research and development (with South Korea and Japan being the two other countries already heavily invested in 6G) in the hope of gaining a strategic hold over emerging standards and potential intellectual property rights.
Table of Contents
Key statistics- Regional Asia market comparison
- Market characteristics
- Market Leaders
- Market Challengers
- Market Emergents
- TMI vs GDP
- Mobile and mobile broadband penetration
- Fixed versus mobile broadband penetration
Covid-19 and its impact on the telecom sector
- Economic considerations and responses
- Subscribers
- Infrastructure
Telecommunications market
- Regulatory environment
- Regulatory authority
- Government policies
- Fixed-line developments
- Mobile network developments
Mobile market
- Mobile broadband
- Mobile infrastructure
- Major mobile operators
Fixed-line broadband market
- Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP) networks
- Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) networks
- Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks
- Fixed wireless
Digital economy
- Fixed network market
- Major network operators
Telecommunications infrastructure
- National telecom network
- International infrastructure
- IoT
Glossary of abbreviations
- Related reports
List of Tables
- Table 1 Top Level Country Statistics and Telco Authorities 2022 (e)
- Table 2 Change in the market share of revenue by service 2014 2021
- Table 3 Growth in the number of mobile subscribers and penetration 2012 2027
- Table 4 Change in the number of mobile broadband subscribers and penetration 2012 2027
- Table 5 Growth in mobile broadband traffic 2016 2022
- Table 6 Growth in average mobile broadband traffic 2013 2022
- Table 7 Growth in the number of mobile subscribers by operator (million) 2012 2022
- Table 8 Change in the market share of mobile subscribers by operator 2012 2022
- Table 9 Development of China Mobile's financial data (RMB billion) 2012 2022
- Table 10 Development of China Mobile's annualised ARPU 2012 2022
- Table 11 Growth in the number of China Mobile's SMS traffic 2012 2022
- Table 12 Growth in the number of China Mobile's mobile broadband traffic 2012 2022
- Table 13 Growth in the number of China Telecom's mobile service revenue 2012 2022
- Table 14 Growth in the number of China Telecom's mobile ARPU 2012 2022
- Table 15 Growth in the number of China Unicom's mobile subscribers 2012 2022
- Table 16 Change in China Unicom's mobile revenue 2013 2022
- Table 17 Growth in the number of fixed broadband subscribers and penetration 2012 2027
- Table 18 Growth in the number of FttP subscribers 2015 2022
- Table 19 Growth in the number of China Telecom's fixed broadband subscribers (million) 2012 2022
- Table 20 Growth in the number of China Unicom's fixed broadband subscribers 2012 2022
- Table 21 Growth in the number of China Mobile's fixed broadband subscribers 2015 2022
- Table 22 Decline in the number of DSL subscribers 2014 2021
- Table 23 Decline in the number of fixed-lines in service and penetration 2012 2027
- Table 24 Development of China Telecom's financial data (RMB billion) 2012 2022
- Table 25 China Telecom revenue by type (RMB billion) 2015 2020
- Table 26 Change in the number of China Telecom's fixed-line and fixed broadband subscribers (million) 2012 2022
- Table 27 Change in the number of China Unicom's fixed-line subscribers 2012 2022
- Table 28 Development of China Unicom's financial data (RMB billion) 2012 2022
- Table 29 Growth of international internet bandwidth 2012 2020
- Table 30 Historic - Mobile subscribers and annual change 1996 2011
- Table 31 Historic - China Telecom mobile ARPU 2008 2011
- Table 32 Historic - China Unicom 2G and 3G/4G subscribers (million) 2002 2015
- Table 33 Historic - China Telecom - fixed broadband subscribers 2003 2011
- Table 34 Historic - Broadband access ports, proportion of FttP ports 2010 2016
- Table 35 Historic - Development of China Mobile's annualised ARPU 2008 2011
- Table 36 Historic - Growth in the number of China Mobile's mobile subscribers 2008 2011
- Table 37 Historic - Growth in the number of China Telecom's mobile subscribers 2008 2011
- Table 38 Historic - China Telecom's mobile 3G subscribers 2009 2015
- Table 39 Historic - Growth in the number of China Unicom's mobile subscribers 2002 2011
- Table 40 Historic - Development of China Unicom's mobile ARPU (RMB/month) 2008 2011
- Table 41 Historic - Growth in the number of China Unicom's fixed broadband subscribers 2008 2011
- Table 42 Historic - Development of China Telecom's financial data (RMB billion) 2008 2011
- Table 43 Historic - Change in the number of China Telecom's fixed-line and fixed broadband subscribers (million) 2008 2011
- Table 44 Historic - Change in the number of China Telecom's fixed broadband ARPU 2008 2011
- Table 45 Historic - Development of China Unicom's financial data (RMB billion) 2008 2011
- Table 46 Historic - Change in the number of China Unicom's fixed-line subscribers 2008 2011
- Table 47 Historic - Growth of international internet bandwidth 2007 2011
List of Charts
- Chart 1 Asia Telecoms Maturity Index Market Leaders
- Chart 2 Asia Telecoms Maturity Index Market Challengers
- Chart 3 Asia Telecoms Maturity Index Market Emergents
- Chart 4 Asia Telecoms Maturity Index vs GDP per capita
- Chart 5 Asia Mobile subscriber penetration vs mobile broadband penetration
- Chart 6 Northern Asia Mobile subscriber penetration vs mobile broadband penetration
- Chart 7 Northern Asia Fixed and mobile broadband penetration
- Chart 8 Change in the market share of revenue by service 2014 2021
- Chart 9 Growth in the number of mobile subscribers and penetration 2012 2027
- Chart 10 Change in the number of mobile broadband subscribers and penetration 2012 2027
- Chart 11 Growth in mobile broadband traffic 2016 2022
- Chart 12 Growth in average mobile broadband traffic 2013 2022
- Chart 13 Growth in the number of mobile subscribers by operator 2012 2022
- Chart 14 Change in the market share of mobile subscribers by operator 2012 2022
- Chart 15 Development of China Mobile's financial data 2012 2022
- Chart 16 Development of China Mobile's annualised ARPU 2012 2022
- Chart 17 Growth in the number of China Mobile's SMS traffic 2012 2022
- Chart 18 Growth in the number of China Mobile's mobile broadband traffic 2012 2022
- Chart 19 Growth in the number of China Telecom's mobile service revenue 2012 2022
- Chart 20 Growth in the number of China Telecom's mobile ARPU 2012 2022
- Chart 21 Growth in the number of China Unicom's mobile subscribers 2012 2022
- Chart 22 Change in China Unicom's mobile revenue 2013 2022
- Chart 23 Growth in the number of fixed broadband subscribers and penetration 2012 2027
- Chart 24 Growth in the number of FttP subscribers 2015 2022
- Chart 25 Growth in the number of China Telecom's fixed broadband subscribers 2012 2022
- Chart 26 Growth in the number of China Unicom's fixed broadband subscribers 2012 2022
- Chart 27 Growth in the number of China Mobile's fixed broadband subscribers 2015 2022
- Chart 28 Decline in the number of DSL subscribers 2014 2021
- Chart 29 Decline in the number of fixed-lines in service and penetration 2012 2027
- Chart 30 Development of China Telecom's financial data (RMB billion) 2012 2022
- Chart 31 China Telecom revenue by type 2015 2020
- Chart 32 Change in the number of China Telecom's fixed-line and fixed broadband subscribers 2012 2022
- Chart 33 Change in the number of China Unicom's fixed-line subscribers 2012 2022
- Chart 34 Development of China Unicom's financial data 2012 2022
List of Exhibits
- Exhibit 1 Map of Telecom Maturity Index global ranking among countries in Asia
- Exhibit 2 Generalised Market Characteristics by Market Segment
- Exhibit 3 Asia Market Leaders and market developments
- Exhibit 4 Asia Market Challengers and market developments
- Exhibit 5 Asia Market Emergents and market developments
- Exhibit 6 Regional/international fibre optic cable networks
- Exhibit 7 Selected Chinese satellite service providers and satellites
- Exhibit 8 China Satcom satellite fleet
