China Mobile today revealed that its 5G network investment will be around RMB 100 billion in 2020.
China Mobile, the largest telecom operator in the world, aims to dominate the 5G business space. China Mobile said its 5G subscriber base has reached 15.4 million in February 2020 as compared with 6.74 million in January 2020 and 2.55 million in December 2019.
China Mobile will be spending RMB 179.8 billion in 2020 towards Capex vs RMB 165.9 billion in 2019.
China Mobile said the main components of its annual Capex for the year 2020 will be RMB 88.3 billion in mobile communication networks, RMB 51.9 billion in transmission networks, RMB 27.5 billion in business networks and support systems and RMB 9.6 billion in buildings, infrastructure and power systems.
China Mobile’s Capex in 2019 touched RMB 82 billion in mobile communication networks,
RMB 45 billion in transmission networks, RMB 23.9 billion in business networks & support systems and RMB 13.2 billion in buildings, infrastructure and power systems.
China Mobile in 2019
# 3.09 million 4G base stations
# commenced building GB broadband network
# migrated IT system, business platform and core network to cloud
# added 25.9 Tbps bandwidth option for international and corporate designated transmission network
# operating more than 50,000 5G base stations
# launched 5G commercial services in 50 cities
China Mobile posted operating revenue of RMB 745.9 billion, registering 1.2 percent growth in 2019. China Mobile’s telecom services revenue rose 0.5 percent to RMB 674.4 billion. EBITDA rose 7.4 percent to RMB 296 billion with EBITDA margin of 39.7 percent.
China Mobile said measures to boost revenue, reduce costs and enhance the quality and efficiency of operations have helped us maintain leading profitability levels among top-tier global telecom operators.
The latest GSMA report said 5G will account for almost half of China’s mobile connections by 2025, representing an adoption rate on a par with other leading 5G markets such as Japan, South Korea and the US.
Chinese operator investment forecasts are more than $180 billion over the next five years in mobile Capex, roughly 90 percent of which will be on 5G networks.
China has already built more than 160,000 5G base stations covering more than 50 cities as operators aim to expand standalone 5G network coverage and capacity,” said Sihan Bo Chen, head of Greater China, GSMA.
46 operators in 24 markets had launched commercially available 5G networks by 30 January 2020. One in five mobile connections is forecast to be running on 5G networks by 2025, said GSMA.
Mobile operators are expected to spend $1.1 trillion worldwide between 2020 and 2025 in mobile Capex, roughly 80 per cent of which will be on 5G networks.
Baburajan K
