Sunday, April 25, 2010

China - Mobile phone users rose by 29.49 million to 780 million, broadband increased by 6.11 million to 110 million

[jlm pacific epoch] China's major telecommunications companies recorded revenue of RMB 209.66 billion in the first quarter of 2010, up 5.3% year-on-year, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) Telecom Development Vice Director Zhu Jun said in an April 22 press conference. Revenue from non-communications businesses grew by 8% year-on-year to account for 43.6% of the total revenue, the report said.

The country's phone users increased by 24.48 million in the first quarter to hit 1.09 billion by the end of March, said Zhu. Mobile phone users rose by 29.49 million to reach a total of 780 million, while broadband users increased by 6.11 million during the period to hit 110 million, or 8.2% of China's population.

China invested RMB 6.04 billion in 3G network construction and RMB 2.06 billion in TD-SCDMA construction in the first three months of 2010, reaching 367,000 3G base stations and 106,000 TD-SCDMA base stations by the end of March. Users of 3G handsets increased by 4.83 million in the quarter to hit 18.08 million, with TD-SCDMA users growing by 1.62 million to 7.69 million.

China Mobile (NYSE:CHL, 0941.HK) had 42.5% of China's total 3G users by the end of March, while China Telecom (NYSE:CHA, 0728.HK) and China Unicom (NYSE:CHU, 0762.HK, 600050.SH) had 30.8% and 26.7%, respectively.

Between January and March, China's internet users grew by 20 million to reach a total of 404 million, or 30.2% of the country's population. Social networking site users rose to 191 million by the end of March, while mobile internet users increased by 27 million to 174 million.

During the period, e-commerce, online advertising, online gaming and search engine sectors each grew by more than 20% year-on-year. Service- and culture-related sectors, including software provision, online animation and online music, are becoming new growth markets for the internet industry, the report said.

MIIT Reports Q1 Telecom Stats

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