Media Center
Steady progress: Analysis of the performance of the three major telecom operators in the first three quarters
Release date：2024/10/30
According to the Communication Industry Network, with China Unicom releasing its financial reports for the first three quarters, all three major telecom operators have released their financial reports for the first three quarters, indicating a stable and steady overall business development. In the first three quarters, the three major telecom operators generated a total revenue of 1.473588 trillion yuan, an increase of 2.4% compared to the same period last year. China Telecom, China Unicom, and China Mobile saw revenue growth of 2.9%, 3%, and 2%, respectively. During the same period last year, the revenue growth of the three major telecom operators was 6.5%, 6.7%, and 7.2% respectively. Compared to last year, the operating performance of the three major telecom operators has shown relatively low growth.
The slight decline under the dominance of one family
Looking at the financial report data of the three major telecom operators in recent years, they have all performed well in terms of profitability, operational capability, asset quality, cash flow status and growth ability, and debt repayment ability.
In the first three quarters of 2024, the revenue of China Telecom, China Unicom, and China Mobile were 391.968 billion yuan, 290.12 billion yuan, and 791.5 billion yuan, respectively, an increase of 2.9%, 3%, and 2%; The net profits of China Telecom, China Unicom, and China Mobile were 29.299 billion yuan, 19.03 billion yuan, and 110.9 billion yuan, respectively, an increase of 8.1%, 10.3%, and 5.1% year-on-year. Both operating income and profitability have maintained steady growth.
In terms of net profit growth, China Unicom maintained double-digit growth in the first three quarters of 2024, marking the eighth consecutive year of double-digit growth in China Unicom's third quarter financial report (with double-digit growth in 2017 and 2018). In the first three quarters, the net profit growth rate of China Telecom decreased by 2.3 percentage points, and the net profit growth rate of China Mobile decreased by 2 percentage points.
In terms of market structure, China Mobile still maintains a dominant position in overall revenue and profit, with revenue and net profit accounting for 53.7% and 69.5% respectively. But compared to the same period last year, the proportion decreased by 0.2 and 0.9 percentage points respectively; China Telecom's revenue and net profit accounted for 26.6% and 18.5% respectively, an increase of 0.1 and 0.4 percentage points compared to the same period last year; China Unicom's revenue and net profit accounted for 19.7% and 12% respectively, an increase of 0.1 and 0.5 percentage points compared to the same period last year.
5G has entered the existing market
In the first three quarters of the mobile communication market, China Telecom saw a net increase of 26.4 million 5G package users; China Unicom saw a net increase of 25.961 million 5G package users in the first three quarters. As of the end of September, the penetration rates of China Telecom and China Unicom's 5G package users were 81.6% and 83%, respectively. Since the beginning of this year, the penetration rate of 5G package users by telecom operators has exceeded 80%, and the penetration rate of 5G package users continues to accelerate. In the current mobile market, 5G package users have entered the stage of stock market.
China Telecom is promoting the accelerated integration of standard products with new elements of warfare such as cloud, AI, quantum, and satellite, accelerating platform content filling and intelligent upgrading around the integration scenario, and promoting the continuous improvement of mobile business value. In the first three quarters, China Telecom saw a net increase of 14.9 million mobile users, reaching 423 million households, a net increase of 26.4 million 5G package users, reaching 345 million households, and a mobile user ARPU of 45.6 yuan.
China Unicom's networked communication business is stable and improving in quality. The number of mobile users reached 345 million, with a cumulative net increase of 11.23 million for the whole year, setting a new high for the same period in nearly 6 years; Among them, there are 286 million 5G package users, and the user structure continues to be optimized.
China Mobile adheres to the integration and expansion of "connection+application+rights", focuses on the operation of integrated storage and value-added customers, strengthens the expansion of segmented markets, deepens traffic operations, and has reached 1.04 billion mobile users, including 539 million 5G network users. Mobile internet traffic has increased by 2.1%, and the mobile ARPU is 49.5 yuan. The penetration rate of China Mobile's 5G network users has reached 53.7%. Since China Mobile announced the number of 5G network users in March this year, the net increase in 5G network users has been 51.88 million, continuously consolidating the foundation of the individual user market and leading the 5G user market.
China Mobile's fixed line network share reaches 50%
In the first three quarters, China Telecom, China Unicom, and China Mobile had a total of 631 million fixed line broadband users, including 196 million for China Telecom, 121 million for China Unicom, and 314 million for China Mobile, accounting for 31%, 19%, and 50% of the market share, respectively. China Mobile has reached half of the market share, with a net increase of 15.36 million fixed broadband users this year, exceeding the sum of net increases from China Telecom (6.1 million) and China Unicom (7.12 million).
China Telecom is accelerating the upgrade of FTTR and the expansion of gigabit applications, continuously upgrading whole house intelligent applications and services, strengthening the AI upgrade and integration of platforms such as smart homes, smart communities, and digital villages, and creating a community/rural life circle and service circle. In the first three quarters of 2024, China Telecom's fixed line and smart home service revenue reached 95.624 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.9%. Smart home revenue increased by 17.0% year-on-year, and the comprehensive ARPU of broadband was 47.8 yuan. The value contribution of smart homes continues to increase.
China Unicom is accelerating the construction of new digital infrastructure. We continued to improve mobile Internet coverage and deepen co construction and sharing, with 1.36 million 5G IF base stations and more than 2 million 4G IF shared base stations; Continuously promoting the popularization and quality improvement of gigabit networks, with 10G PON ports accounting for 80%, leading the industry and maintaining a good momentum of scale development.
The total number of fixed line broadband customers of China Mobile has reached 314 million, including 276 million household broadband customers, with a net increase of 12.46 million households in the first three quarters. In the first three quarters, the comprehensive ARPU for household customers was 43.2 yuan.
Second curve business expansion and efficiency improvement
The second curve business contributes strong momentum to the sustained growth of operators.
China Telecom seizes the opportunity of economic and social digital transformation, continuously cultivates key industries, expands ecological cooperation, meets the digital needs of thousands of industries with network+cloud+AI+applications, promotes the rapid development of strategic emerging businesses, and promotes the deep integration of digital technology and the real economy. In the first three quarters of 2024, the digital business revenue of China's telecommunications industry reached 105.549 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.8%.
China Unicom expands its network and intelligence services to increase efficiency. The computing power business has grown rapidly, with China Unicom Cloud's revenue reaching 43.86 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 19.5%; The intelligent transformation of data centers has promoted the accelerated development of AIDC, with data center revenue reaching 19.69 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.8%; The number of IoT connections has reached 594 million, with a net increase of nearly 100 million; Actively help new industrialization, boost the influence of China Unicom's 5G+industrial Internet brand, and the cumulative number of 5G industry virtual private network customers reached 14013; Actively building a "big security" system from secure operation to secure services and ecological prosperity, and maintaining strong growth in online security revenue.
In terms of the government enterprise market, China Mobile is promoting the integration of "network+cloud+ICT" to expand its scale, accelerate the expansion of key areas such as commercial and customer markets, continue to deepen industry customer operations, strengthen solution integration capabilities, optimize project delivery management, and promote the development of both quantity and quality. In the first three quarters, its DICT business revenue maintained good growth. In emerging markets, China Mobile deepens its "content+technology+integrated innovation" operation, builds competitive advantages in content media business, leverages the linkage effect between domestic and international markets, and vigorously expands international business. In the first three quarters, its content media revenue and international business revenue both maintained rapid growth.
Annual outlook
Analyzing the performance of the three major telecom operators in the first three quarters, although showing relatively low growth, there has been steady progress. The performance in the first three quarters has basically laid the foundation for the annual performance, and it is expected to achieve the annual operating goals.
According to previous disclosures and quarterly performance releases, it is expected that China Telecom will achieve a net profit growth rate higher than revenue growth rate for the whole year; China Unicom's total profit maintains double-digit growth; China Mobile has achieved good revenue and profit growth.
China Telecom stated that it will actively grasp the development trend of the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, continue to implement the cloud to digital transformation strategy, solidly promote the construction of service-oriented, technology-based, and secure enterprises, further comprehensively deepen reforms, comprehensively promote high-quality development, continuously enhance core functions, improve core competitiveness, accelerate the construction of world-class enterprises, and continuously enhance enterprise value.
China Unicom stated that looking ahead to the whole year, it will adhere to the overall tone of seeking progress while maintaining stability, promote the development of new networks, technologies, and services, and strive to achieve the performance goals of steady growth in annual operating revenue and double-digit growth in profits.
China Mobile stated that it adheres to the principle of seeking progress while maintaining stability, upholding integrity and innovation, focusing on enhancing core functions and improving core competitiveness, deepening the implementation of the "One Two Two Five" strategy, accelerating the development of new quality productivity, promoting digital transformation and high-quality development, and continuously creating greater value for its shareholders and customers.
By the end of the season, we look forward to the three major telecom operators delivering qualified answers throughout the year.
