Telecom network operator China Mobile has revealed the company’s Capex (capital expenditure) in the first half of 2016.
The primary of focus of China Mobile was making investment in 4G networks. China Mobile, the largest telecom network operator, competes with China Unicom and China Telecom in the world’s largest mobile phone market based on subscribers.
China Mobile’s capital expenditure was RMB 83 billion in the first half of 2016, representing 25.5 percent of revenue from telecom services. China Mobile has made an investment of RMB 46.2 billion in 4G networks alone.
China Mobile chairman Shang Bing said:
Operating revenue of China Mobile was RMB 370,351 million (+7.1 percent) in H1 2016 against RMB 345,691 million in H1 2015.
Revenue from telecommunications services was RMB 325,423 million (+6.9 percent) against RMB 304,281 million.
China Mobile said EBITDA increased by 2.9 percent to RMB134.4 billion. China Mobile profit rose 5.6 percent to RMB60.6 billion. EBITDA margin was 36.3 percent as compared with 37.8 percent. EBITDA as percent of revenue from telecommunications services was 41.3 percent against 42.9 percent.
China Mobile 4G
China Mobile added over 200,000 4G base stations, increasing the total number of 4G base stations to 1.32 million. China Mobile launched VoLTE (Voice over LTE) in nearly 300 cities across the country. The company has rolled out Carrier Aggregation technology in over 300 cities.
The monthly average net increase of 4G customers was over 19 million in the first half of 2016, pushing the number of 4G customers to 429 million.
4G network handset data traffic as a percentage of the total handset data traffic increased to 88 percent. 4G DOU has increased by 31.9 percent, driving the growth in mobile ARPU. Data traffic reached a record-high level during the period.
China Mobile said handset data traffic increased by 133.9 percent year-on-year, while wireless data traffic revenue increased by 39.7 percent, rising to 43.3 percent of the total telecommunications services revenue.
