Ministry of Industry and Information Technology: 5G users account for more than 30% of my country's total

On October 26, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the economic operation of the communications industry in the first three quarters of 2022, showing that in the first three quarters, the information and communications industry maintained a stable operation trend. Telecommunications business revenue maintained steady growth, and the total volume of telecommunications business grew rapidly; the construction of new infrastructure such as 5G and gigabit optical networks was accelerated, and the scale of network-connected terminal users continued to expand; emerging businesses such as cloud computing grew rapidly, and the new momentum for industry development continued to increase.

I. Overall Operation

Telecommunications business revenue has achieved steady growth, and the total volume of telecommunications business has maintained a double-digit growth rate. In the first three quarters, the total revenue of telecommunications business reached 1,197.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.2%. The total volume of telecommunications business calculated at the same price as last year increased by 21.7% year-on-year, and the growth rate was the same as last month.

Figure 1: Cumulative growth rate of telecommunications business revenue and total telecommunications business volume

Fixed Internet broadband business revenue grew steadily. In the first three quarters, the three basic telecommunications companies achieved Internet broadband business revenue of 181 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9%, accounting for 15.1% of telecommunications business revenue, an increase of 0.1 percentage point year-on-year, driving telecommunications business revenue growth by 1.3 percentage points.

Mobile data traffic business revenue grew at a slow pace. In the first three quarters, the three basic telecommunications companies achieved mobile data traffic business revenue of 488 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 0.7%, accounting for 40.8% of telecommunications business revenue, driving telecommunications business revenue growth by 0.3 percentage points.

Emerging business revenues grew rapidly. The three basic telecommunications companies actively developed emerging businesses such as IPTV, Internet data centers, big data, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things. In the first three quarters, they achieved a total business revenue of 232.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 33.4%, accounting for 19.5% of telecommunications business revenues, driving the growth of telecommunications business revenues by 5.3 percentage points. Among them, cloud computing and big data revenues grew by 127.6% and 62.6% year-on-year respectively, data center business revenues grew by 14.3% year-on-year, and Internet of Things business revenues grew by 23.5% year-on-year.

Figure 2: Growth of revenue from emerging businesses

Voice business revenue continued to decline. In the first three quarters, the three basic telecommunications companies achieved fixed voice and mobile voice business revenues of 15.64 billion yuan and 85.82 billion yuan, down 9.6% and 2.9% year-on-year respectively, accounting for 8.5% of the total telecommunications business revenue, a year-on-year decline of 1.1 percentage points.

II. Development of Telecommunications Users

The number of fixed broadband access users has increased steadily, and the scale of gigabit users has continued to expand. As of the end of September, the total number of fixed Internet broadband access users of the three basic telecommunications companies reached 578 million, a net increase of 42.57 million over the end of last year. Among them, the number of fixed Internet broadband access users with access speeds of 100Mbps and above reached 542 million, accounting for 93.8% of the total number of users, an increase of 0.8 percentage points over the end of last year; the number of fixed Internet broadband access users with access speeds of 1000Mbps and above reached 76.03 million, a net increase of 41.45 million over the end of last year, accounting for 13.1% of the total number of users.

Figure 3: Fixed Internet broadband access users with speeds above 100M and above 1000M

The scale of mobile phone users has increased steadily, with 5G users accounting for more than 30%. As of the end of September, the total number of mobile phone users of the three basic telecommunications companies reached 1.682 billion, a net increase of 38.95 million from the end of last year. Among them, 5G mobile phone users reached 510 million, a net increase of 155 million from the end of last year, accounting for 30.3% of mobile phone users, an increase of 8.7 percentage points from the end of last year.

The pace of "Internet of Things" continues to increase, and IPTV users are growing steadily. As of the end of September, the three basic telecommunications companies have developed 1.745 billion cellular Internet of Things terminal users, a net increase of 350 million over the end of last year; the number of mobile phone users has exceeded 65.86 million, accounting for 51% of the number of mobile network terminal connections (including mobile phone users and cellular Internet of Things terminal users). The total number of IPTV (Internet TV) users reached 372 million, a net increase of 23.59 million over the end of last year.

Figure 4 IoT terminal users

3. Use of Telecommunication Services

Mobile Internet traffic grew rapidly, with the monthly DOU value exceeding 15GB/household. In the first three quarters, the cumulative mobile Internet traffic reached 190.4 billion GB, a year-on-year increase of 18.4%. As of the end of September, the number of mobile Internet users reached 1.462 billion, a net increase of 45.97 million households over the end of last year. In September, the average mobile Internet access traffic (DOU) per household reached 15.01GB/household/month, a year-on-year increase of 12.4%, and 0.29GB/household/month higher than the end of last year.

Figure 5: Cumulative mobile Internet access traffic and growth rate

Figure 6 Monthly mobile Internet access traffic and average traffic per household (DOU)

Mobile phone call volume grew at a slow pace, while the growth rate of mobile SMS business volume and revenue rebounded slightly. In the first three quarters, mobile phone outgoing call duration reached 1.72 trillion minutes, a year-on-year increase of 1.3%; fixed-line outgoing call duration reached 62.85 billion minutes, a year-on-year decrease of 10.8%. In the first three quarters, the national mobile SMS business volume increased by 3.5% year-on-year, and the mobile SMS business revenue increased by 1.9% year-on-year, with the growth rate rebounding by 1 and 1.6 percentage points respectively compared with the first half of the year.

Figure 7 Growth rate of mobile phone users and call duration

Figure 8 Year-on-year growth in mobile SMS business volume and revenue

4. Communication Capabilities

The total length of optical cable lines has increased steadily. By the end of September, the total length of optical cable lines in China reached 58.76 million kilometers, a year-on-year increase of 6%, and a net increase of 3.956 million kilometers compared with the end of last year. Among them, access network optical cables, local network relay optical cables and long-distance optical cable lines accounted for 62.2%, 36% and 1.8% respectively.

Figure 9 Development of total length of optical cable lines

Gigabit network service capabilities continue to improve. As of the end of September, the number of Internet broadband access ports nationwide reached 1.055 billion, a net increase of 36.98 million from the end of last year. Among them, fiber-optic access (FTTH/O) ports reached 1.008 billion, a net increase of 47.74 million from the end of last year, accounting for 95.5% of Internet broadband access ports, an increase of 1.2 percentage points from the end of last year. As of the end of September, the number of 10G PON ports with gigabit network service capabilities reached 12.68 million, a net increase of 4.822 million from the end of last year.

Figure 10 Development of the number of Internet broadband access ports

5G network construction continues to advance. As of the end of September, the total number of mobile communication base stations in my country reached 10.72 million, a net increase of 754,000 from the end of last year. Among them, the total number of 5G base stations reached 2.22 million, a net increase of 795,000 from the end of last year, accounting for 20.7% of the total number of mobile base stations, an increase of 6.4 percentage points from the end of last year.

V. Regional Development

The penetration rate of users with access speeds of 100 Mbps or above in the central region is slightly ahead. As of the end of September, the penetration rates of fixed broadband access users with access speeds of 100 Mbps or above in the eastern, central, western and northeastern regions were 93.6%, 94.7%, 93.2% and 93.7% respectively. The number of broadband access users with access speeds of 1000 Mbps or above reached 38.5 million, 16.46 million, 19.1 million and 1.971 million respectively, accounting for 15.6%, 11.4%, 12.4% and 5.8% of the total number of fixed broadband access users in the region respectively.

The eastern region leads in 5G construction and user penetration. As of the end of September, the number of 5G base stations in the eastern, central, western and northeastern regions reached 1.069 million, 474,000, 536,000 and 140,000, respectively, accounting for 23%, 20.2%, 17.8% and 19.8% of the total number of mobile phone base stations in the region. The number of 5G mobile phone users reached 227 million, 120 million, 131 million and 33 million, respectively, accounting for 31.1%, 30.7%, 29.4% and 27.9% of the total number of mobile phone users in the region.

The growth rate of mobile Internet access traffic in the central region is slightly ahead, and the DOU values ​​in some western provinces have hit new highs. In the first three quarters, the mobile Internet access traffic in the eastern, central, western and northeastern regions reached 80.97 billion GB, 43.01 billion GB, 56.56 billion GB and 9.81 billion GB, respectively, up 18%, 20%, 19% and 11.8% year-on-year. In September, the average mobile Internet access traffic (DOU) per household in Tibet, Qinghai and Xinjiang exceeded 20GB/household/month.