Popularity of Apple's iPhone provides a financial lift for China Telecom

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
China Telecom's mobile revenues jumped by 28.3 percent in the first half of 2013, thanks in large part to Apple's iPhone attracting more 3G customers to the network.

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The Beijing-based company, the smallest of China's three state-owned mobile carriers, posted the highest mobile revenue growth rate in the industry during the first six months of 2013, according to the interim financial statement released today.

China Telecom added 18.3 million 3G subscribers for the six month period ending in June, pushing the number of customers who subscribe to revenue-generating mobile data plans to 87.33 million, or 50 percent of the company's total mobile subscriber base. Revenue from mobile data increased by 39 percent to 26.2 billion yuan ($4.3 billion).

The average monthly data usage of 3G subscrbers increased by 51 percent to from the same period last year, the company's first with the iPhone. iPhone users are known to consume significantly more mobile data than users of other smartphones.

China Telecom Chairman and CEO Wang Xiaochu said that the company would continue focusing on expansion of 3G services, despite "uncertainties in domestic regulatory policies" surrounding disruptive mobile messaging apps like WeChat, which use a customer's mobile data connection to communicate. These apps steer users away from profitable carrier services like text messaging and voice calling.

The company also indicated plans to aggressively develop its LTE network, telling investors to expect a capital expenditure campaign to deploy TD & FDD LTE services, possibly paving the way for a future LTE iPhone in mainland China.

Overall, China Telecom ? also the largest wireline and broadband service provider in the world ? saw net profit increase by 16 percent to 10.2 billion yuan ($1.7 billion).

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    philboogiephilboogie Posts: 7,675member
    iPhone users are known to consume significantly more mobile data than users of other smartphones.

    Why would that be¿ I thought we just had this analyzed and came to the conclusion cheaper and larger display smartphones was the thing, especially in China.
  • Reply 2 of 12
    peteopeteo Posts: 402member


    Also do not understand how you get iPhone provided the uplift. It very well could have but the data that you state "data usage of 3G subscribers increased by 51%" implying that people buying the iphone did that is very shaky to say the least. Is there some other data you know of that you did not post? You guys need to do a better job using facts instead of speculation. This happens on both sides but I thought this site had higher standards

  • Reply 3 of 12
    They probably arrived to that conclusion because carrying the iPhone was the biggest change in the referred timespan.
  • Reply 4 of 12


    China is looking like Japan.  The upstarts that are selling the iPhone are gaining market share.  The "we are so big that we do not need the iPhone" group is losing ground.  It will be interesting to see how long DoCoMo and China Mobile hold out.

  • Reply 5 of 12
    peteopeteo Posts: 402member


    Huh? they started selling the iPhone in march of 2012

  • Reply 6 of 12
    philboogiephilboogie Posts: 7,675member
    peteo wrote: »
    Huh? they started selling the iPhone in march of 2012

    09Q4 as I read here
  • Reply 7 of 12


    Profits aren't linked to the iPhone in the interim financial statement. This is a speculative article.

  • Reply 8 of 12
    peteopeteo Posts: 402member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by PhilBoogie View Post





    09Q4 as I read here


     


    Really?


    03/09/2013 iPhone 4S Launches on China Telecom with 200,000 Pre-Orders


     


    http://www.macrumors.com/2012/03/09/iphone-4s-launches-on-china-telecom-with-200000-pre-orders/

  • Reply 9 of 12

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by peteo View Post


     


    Really?


    03/09/2013 iPhone 4S Launches on China Telecom with 200,000 Pre-Orders


     


    http://www.macrumors.com/2012/03/09/iphone-4s-launches-on-china-telecom-with-200000-pre-orders/



     


    China Unicom got it in '09 and China Telecom in 2012.

  • Reply 10 of 12
    peteopeteo Posts: 402member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by ddawson100 View Post


     


    China Unicom got it in '09 and China Telecom in 2012.



    Right, and the article is about china telecom not Unicom

  • Reply 11 of 12
    herbapouherbapou Posts: 2,228member


    iPhone 5C stress test:


    http://www.appledaily.com.tw/realtimenews/article/life/20130821/246118/


     


    Also, iphone 5C and 5S to start selling on sept 20th.


     


    Nice iwatch concept:


  • Reply 12 of 12
    robin huberrobin huber Posts: 4,014member
    Their logo reminds me so much of the logo for a US company, perhaps no longer in business? Maybe computer hardware or software related. Anyone else see that? (And I don't mean Toyota.) Maybe something that started with an R? Not Roxio.

    Edit/Update: Just figured it out, it was Power Computing, the biggest of the official Mac clone makers. Their logo was an almost exact duplicate of China Telecom. They changed the color from red to blue and flipped it left to right. "Steve" Khang was the CEO. Maybe he moved back to China.
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