China Mobile 3G user growth slow, carrier is 'in need of an iPhone'

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Though China Mobile is the largest wireless provider on on the planet, its number of high-speed 3G subscribers remains relatively small and growth is slow as the carrier does not currently offer Apple's iPhone.

Noting that China Mobile's total 3G subscribers grew just 3.9 percent month over month in May, analyst Brian White with Topeka Capital Markets said in a note to investors on Friday that the world's largest carrier is "in need of the iPhone." With 677.5 million total subscribers in May, China Mobile had 65 percent of all wireless subscribers in China, but with just 61.9 million 3G customers, it accounted for only 38 percent of 3G users in the nation.

It's not a coincidence to White that the iPhone-less China Mobile continues to struggle in adding 3G subscribers while its smaller rivals, China Mobile and China Unicom, both offer the iPhone and are adding 3G subscribers at a faster clip.

In May, China Unicom had 54.5 million 3G subscribers, up 2.73 million users and 5.3 percent month over month from April. And China Telecom added 2.6 million 3G subscribers in May, growing 5.7 percent month over month.

In all, China had 166.9 million 3G subscribers at the end of May, up 4.8 percent from a month prior. It also represents 126 percent year over year growth from the 73.8 million 3G subscribers China had in May of 2011.

"3G subscribers now represent 16% of China's wireless subscribers and double the 8% from a year ago," White said. "However, this penetration rate remains low relative to the developed world and provides significant growth opportunities for mobile device companies over the next several years."

China Mobile


The details on subscriber growth in China come soon after one report suggested Apple's next iPhone, expected to launch in October, will come with support for China Mobile's proprietary TD-SCDMA 3G network, allowing Apple to tap into the largest pool of mobile subscribers in the world. Analyst Shaw Wu with Sterne Agee said support for China Mobile will make Apple's next-generation iPhone a "true world phone."

China has become an increasingly important part of Apple's business, and the company announced last week it is enhancing support for Chinese-language users with iOS 6. When the mobile operating system update launches this fall, Siri will be able to understand and speak Mandarin and Cantonese, while the software update will also offer easier Chinese character input and integration with popular Internet services like Baidu, Sina Weibo, Youku and Tudou.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,402member
    Watch Android's share sink like a stone if/when China Mobile gets the iPhone.
  • Reply 2 of 12
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    If Apple announces China Mobile, even if it doesn't launch for months, I expect the stock to shoot up.
  • Reply 3 of 12
    flaneurflaneur Posts: 4,526member
    I suppose Apple will be building data centers in China to handle Siri and other traffic.

    Meanwhile, Moodys just downgraded all the banks. Is there any good economic news on the planet besides what Apple is doing?
  • Reply 4 of 12
    gprovidagprovida Posts: 258member
    Hhmmm Appleinsider not fully supporting iOS Safari??? " rich text ... not compatible fwith your browser..."

    Anyway, this is the reason service providers across the world lust for the iPhone and the added costs are not a real issue. However, Apple getting between them and customers drives them nuts, just like movie, music, app Dev, newspapers, magazines, etc.

    Standby for more on this front.
  • Reply 5 of 12
    enzosenzos Posts: 344member

    Quote:


    Moodys just downgraded all the banks. Is there any good economic news on the planet besides what Apple is doing?



     


    The Australian economy is doing very well (4.1% growth, 4.9% unemployment) and our banks are making obscene amounts of money (the greedy buggers).   


     


     

  • Reply 6 of 12
    gazoobeegazoobee Posts: 3,754member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by gprovida View Post



    Hhmmm Appleinsider not fully supporting iOS Safari??? " rich text ... not compatible fwith your browser..."...


     


    In all fairness, the new forums don't actually fully support "regular" Safari on OS-X either.  


     


    They are some kind of f*cked up mix of Java and proprietary plug-ins that is pretty much a mess no matter what computer or browser you use.  No spell-checking, no smileys, goofy edit controls.  It's an absolute nightmare.  


     


    The thing I don't understand is that they stuck with the same tired old format for years and years and it actually worked just fine on mobile devices as well.  Now they've changed it all, but the new system doesn't add anything that the old system didn't already have, yet has significant loss of functionality at the same time.  There are a few things that it offers over the old system like avatars, (yay!) but all of these have been purposely disabled by the admins so there isn't much point in talking bout them.  


     


    So after years of no problems, they decided to create a bunch of problems and incompatibilities by introducing this new forum system.  Win?  

  • Reply 7 of 12
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    gazoobee wrote: »
    The thing I don't understand is that they stuck with the same tired old format for years and years and it actually worked just fine on mobile devices as well.  Now they've changed it all, but the new system doesn't add anything that the old system didn't already have, yet has significant loss of functionality at the same time.  There are a few things that it offers over the old system like avatars, (yay!) but all of these have been purposely disabled by the admins so there isn't much point in talking bout them.  

    vBulletin supported avatars as well, of course.

    We're promised an update soon. There better be one, since the rich text editor doesn't work with Safari 6, and I just got used to not having to type BBCode…
  • Reply 8 of 12
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,712member
    solipsismx wrote: »
    If Apple announces China Mobile, even if it doesn't launch for months, I expect the stock to shoot up.

    That would be nice! :D

    wtf is wrong with the emoticons on this web site / bog?
  • Reply 9 of 12
    flaneurflaneur Posts: 4,526member
    enzos wrote: »
    The Australian economy is doing very well (4.1% growth, 4.9% unemployment) and our banks are making obscene amounts of money (the greedy buggers).   


    Thanks, I was fishing for some other good news.

    Edit: Maybe it helps to have actual people who believe in science, evolution and progress!

    Porfirio Diaz supposedly said about his country "Poor Mexico, so far from God, so close to the United States."

    We could be saying, "Poor United States, so close to God, so far from the rest of the world" —except for Silicon Valley and a few other areas which still carry on the values of the sixties, of course.
  • Reply 10 of 12
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,402member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Gazoobee View Post

    Win?  


    Loss.


     


    Big time.

  • Reply 11 of 12
    freerangefreerange Posts: 1,597member
    gazoobee wrote: »
    In all fairness, the new forums don't actually fully support "regular" Safari on OS-X either.  

    They are some kind of f*cked up mix of Java and proprietary plug-ins that is pretty much a mess no matter what computer or browser you use.  No spell-checking, no smileys, goofy edit controls.  It's an absolute nightmare.  

    The thing I don't understand is that they stuck with the same tired old format for years and years and it actually worked just fine on mobile devices as well.  Now they've changed it all, but the new system doesn't add anything that the old system didn't already have, yet has significant loss of functionality at the same time.  There are a few things that it offers over the old system like avatars, (yay!) but all of these have been purposely disabled by the admins so there isn't much point in talking bout them.  

    So after years of no problems, they decided to create a bunch of problems and incompatibilities by introducing this new forum system.  Win?  

    Totally agree - AI it's time to fire the absolute FUp's that are running you IT and bring back the old system that worked great! How can a technology focused site screw up so badly?
  • Reply 12 of 12


    china mobile 's 3g coverage and speed is not good compared to China Unicom, that is why people go to china unicom, not because iphone.


    iphone owners among china mobile chose china mobile because their phone call coverage is much much better than china unicom.


    with china mobile, you can call an receive phone calls from island to tibet.


    with China Unicom, you have very very good luck if you can receive a call ~.~;;

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