Key Takeaways From China Telecom’s Results

+30.92%
Upside
26.45
Market
34.63
Trefis
CHA: China Telecom logo
CHA
China Telecom

China Telecom (NYSE:CHA), the smallest of the three Chinese wireless carriers, published its financial results for the first three quarters of 2017 on October 27, reporting year-over-year growth that was driven by its expanding high-speed speed wireless subscriber base, improving ARPUs as well as lower equipment subsidy costs. China Telecom’s service revenues stood at RMB 249.7 billion ($37.56 billion), representing an increase of 7.0% over the same period last year, while profit attributable to equity holders was RMB 18.5 billion ($2.78 billion), representing an increase of 5.5% over the same period last year.

See our complete analysis for China Mobile | China Unicom | China Telecom

The carrier added a total of 25.56 million mobile subscribers over the first three quarters, up from 14.6 million in the year-ago period, despite mounting competition in the wireless market. That said, 4G additions and migrations were slightly lower compared to the last year at 45.65 million, likely due to its larger 4G base (70% of total subscribers, up from about 50% in the year-ago period) and rival China Unicom’s expanding 4G coverage. The company’s ARPU also rose year-over-year, driven by higher handset data usage, which was up by about 140% year-over-year. Monthly average data traffic per 4G subscriber reached 1.5 GB.

Relevant Articles
  1. Is The Market Undervaluing Chinese Telcos: A Comparison With Verizon & AT&T?
  2. How Are Regulatory Directives Hurting China Telecom’s Revenues?
  3. A Closer Look At China Telecom’s Key Revenue Streams
  4. How Has China Telecom’s Wireless Business Fared Versus Rivals?
  5. What To Expect As China Telecom Reports Q1 Results
  6. Key Takeaways From China Telecom’s 2018 Results

On the wireline front, China Telecom’s broadband business performed well, with net subscriber adds of 8.19 million (up 7% compared to the same period last year), taking its overall broadband subscriber base to 128 million. FTTH penetration improved to about 93%, as the average access bandwidth for users is also improving, driven by the Chinese government’s directive to telecom companies to improve data speeds. However, the landline business saw subscriber base decline by about 5% to 123.31 million.

View Interactive Institutional Research (Powered by Trefis):

Global Large Cap | U.S. Mid & Small Cap | European Large & Mid Cap
More Trefis Research