Who made a comeback! Operators' February data: China Unicom's 5G business ushered in a highlight moment

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Yesterday, the three major operators announced their operating data for February. After nearly a year of keeping a low profile, China Unicom announced its 5G package user data in its monthly report for the first time.

Data shows that China Unicom's 5G package users increased by 6.589 million in February, more than the net increase of the other two operators in the same period, and the total number of users reached 84.543 million. Although China Unicom's total number of 5G package users is not the highest among operators, nor is it the fastest growing, but considering China Unicom's past performance, this time it can be said to have won a "turnaround battle."

5G users: China Mobile is frustrated, while China Telecom and China Unicom are making great progress

After entering the 5G era, the competitive landscape of operators' traditional businesses has become stable, and it is difficult to have major breakthroughs and subversions.

Data shows that in February, China Mobile's mobile customer base decreased by 3.692 million, with a total of 937.169 million users. In January this year, China Mobile's mobile users also saw negative growth (-1.05 million); China Mobile's 4G customer base increased by 1.707 million, reaching a total of 781.333 million. It is worth noting that in February, China Unicom also stopped publishing its 4G users, which means that among the three major operators, only China Mobile has announced 4G users. In terms of broadband users, China Mobile's wired broadband customer base increased by 2.013 million, reaching a total of 215.7 million.

In February, China Telecom continued to make steady progress. Mobile users continued to grow, with a net increase of 250,000 last month, and the cumulative number of mobile users reached 352.8 million. In the same month, China Telecom's wired broadband users increased by 560,000, and the cumulative number of wired broadband users reached 160.43 million.

In February, China Unicom's monthly report was greatly adjusted. It announced the number of 5G package users for the first time and cancelled the disclosure of 4G users. Data showed that in terms of mobile business, China Unicom's mobile billing users decreased by 20,000 in February, reaching a total of 306 million. In terms of fixed-line business, China Unicom's fixed-line broadband users increased by 256,000 in February, reaching a total of 87.163 million.

In the most intense 5G user competition, China Unicom has made a big splash. In February, it ranked ahead of China Mobile and China Telecom with a net increase of 6.589 million users, and the total number of 5G package users reached 84.543 million. As a good partner of China Unicom's co-construction and sharing, China Telecom's performance in February was also good, with a net increase of 6.2 million 5G package users, and the total number of 5G package users exceeded 100 million (103.37 million). China Mobile's 5G business was relatively inferior in February, with a net increase of 4.197 million package customers, but the total number was still the highest among operators (168.971 million).

Industry consensus: Continue to explore the value of 5G

5G is seen as a barometer of the next stage of performance of operators. Some analysts believe that in the 5G era, operators' ARPU will be improved, thereby driving mobile business revenue and profits back on track for growth; at the same time, the industry has broad space; in addition to the growth potential on the revenue side and the switching of revenue sources, the cost pressure of the three operators is also expected to be alleviated.

In its 2020 financial report, China Telecom said that its 4G spending in 2021 will be significantly reduced year-on-year, it will no longer purchase main equipment, and will further utilize existing resources, while 5G investment will remain stable. China Unicom said it will continue to promote 2G streamlining and strive to complete the withdrawal of 2G public users from the network in 2021; through network and industry collaboration, it will accelerate the migration of 2G public users to 4/5G.

Under the background of 5G, the three major operators have successively stated that they will no longer engage in price wars for packages. The 5G package products currently launched by the three major operators have basically the same data traffic and call content. Without price wars, operators can devote more attention to network construction and better serve users.

In the process of 5G network construction, China Telecom and China Unicom jointly built the world's largest co-construction and sharing network, achieving cost savings and efficiency improvements, and becoming a successful model of global co-construction and sharing. At the opening ceremony of the 2021 MWC Shanghai Exhibition, China Telecom Chairman Ke Ruiwen said that in view of the huge construction and operation costs of 5G networks, they will actively try co-construction and sharing in multiple fields to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

Some institutions predict that 5G network construction and industry scale will further grow in 2021. It is expected that in 2021, telecom operators will continue to maintain the growth rate of large-scale network deployment, and the number of new 5G base stations will exceed the total in 2020, reaching a total of 1.5 million. In 2021, the investment in 5G networks by the four major telecom operators is expected to be 1.5 to 2 times that of 2020, and the scale of the 5G communication industry will exceed 500 billion yuan, an increase of about 150% over 2020.