Telcos book strong 9M 2023 results

Chinese full-service provider China Mobile booked operating revenue of CNY775.6 billion (USD106 billion) in the nine months to end-September 2023, an increase of 7.2% year-on-year, with service revenue making up CNY664.6 billion of that figure. EBITDA for the three quarters rose by 6.7% y-o-y to CNY268.5 billion, whilst net income improved by 7.1% annually to CNY105.5 billion. The operator attributed the continued growth to strong performance across all of its key divisions. Its ‘Business’ unit recorded a 26.4% uptick in revenue (to CNY86.6 billion) from its network, cloud and data, information and communications technology (DICT) services. Its ‘Home’ division recorded 22.52 million net additional fixed broadband subscriptions, bringing the total to more than 295 million at the end of September 2023, whilst ARPU improved by 2.4% to CNY42.1. In the ‘Customer’ segment, meanwhile, Mobile recorded increases in total mobile subscriptions (to 990 million, from 985 million in June 2023), 5G Network Subscriptions (425 million, from 393 million three months earlier) and mobile ARPU, which increased by 1.0% y-o-y to CNY51.2.

Rival operator China Telecom, meanwhile, recorded operating revenue of CNY384.3 billion for the nine-month period – an increase of 6.4% y-o-y. EBITDA grew by 5.2% to CNY105.6 billion and net profit improved by 10.4% to CNY27.1 billion. Revenue from mobile services totalled CNY151.9 billion (up 2.4% y-o-y) with total mobile subscriptions reaching 406 million at end-September 2023, including 308 million 5G Package Subscriptions. Revenue from fixed voice, fixed broadband and additional ‘Smart Family’ services grew by 3.9% compared to 9M 2022 to reach CNY92.9 billion. Telecom added that Smart Family services maintained ‘rapid growth’ and drove broadband blended ARPU to CNY47.8 for the period. Elsewhere, Telecom’s ‘Industrial Digitalisation’ division booked a 16.5% uptick in revenue, to CNY99.7 billion.