How Did The Subscriber Metrics Of Chinese Wireless Carriers Trend In May?

May proved to be a relatively mixed month for the Chinese wireless industry, with the three major carriers together adding just about 2.6 million new subscribers, compared to more than 3 million subscribers in April. Market leader China Mobile (NYSE:CHL) added about 640,000 subscribers during the month while China Unicom (NYSE:CHU) added 580,000 subscribers. However, China Telecom, the smallest of the three carriers, grew its subscriber base by 1.34 million, accounting for about 52% of the industry’s overall customer growth for the month. This was likely driven by promotional activity, as well as an increasing focus on improving its 4G user base (5 million 4G adds/migrations for the month). It is possible that China Unicom and China Telecom will continue to put pressure on China Mobile in the near term, on account of the tower sharing JV and their intention to jointly develop their rural 4G networks.

References:

China Mobile Operating Data

China Telecom Key Performance Indicators

China Unicom Operating Data