The report card of the three major operators in 2020: 5G users exceeded 250 million, China Mobile dominated and China Unicom was in a severe situation

The three major operators have recently announced their operating data for December 2020. In terms of the most concerned 5G users, China Mobile reached 165 million and China Telecom reached 86.5 million, with the two companies totaling more than 250 million. China Unicom has not yet announced its own 5G user situation.

Judging from multiple indicators such as mobile users, 4G users, 5G users, and broadband users, China Mobile continues to maintain its dominant position among the three major operators. The most severe situation is China Unicom, which lost more than 10 million mobile users in 2020, and its broadband business is also widening the gap with China Mobile and China Telecom.

5G users exceed 250 million

Since the official commercial launch of 5G packages on October 31, 2019, the three major operators have started the battle for 5G users, launching a series of measures such as telemarketing, free data, and package promotions.

As of December 2020, the number of China Mobile's 5G package users has exceeded 165 million, with 17.621 million new users added that month and 162.5 million new users added in 2020. This growth rate also exceeded the goals set by China Mobile in the early days.

As for China Telecom, as of December 2020, the number of 5G package users reached 86.5 million, with 7.02 million new users that month and 81.89 million new users in 2020. In order to focus on the growth of 5G users, China Telecom no longer announces the number of 4G users.

China Unicom has maintained its traditional style of not announcing the number of 5G users. Throughout 2020, relevant executives of China Unicom did not convey specific development goals related to 5G users to the public.

Overall, the total number of 5G users of China Mobile and China Telecom exceeded 250 million in 2020, and the development speed exceeded expectations. Among them, China Mobile's 5G user penetration rate was 17.5%, and China Telecom's 5G user penetration rate was 24.6%, which means that China Mobile maintained its lead in the absolute number of 5G users, while China Telecom maintained its lead in the penetration rate of 5G users.

As for China Unicom, the main theme in 2020 is to improve profitability, so the pace of 5G users is a bit slow. In the 2020 mid-term performance conference call, Wang Xiaochu, chairman of China Unicom, said that in the face of new challenges in the development of the industry, since the second half of 2019, the company has learned from its mistakes and actively adjusted its mobile business development strategy. From focusing on the number of user growth, it has shifted its focus to focusing on the quality and value of user development. It has strengthened Internet-based and differentiated innovative operations, and has gradually strengthened the development of 5G public users in a rhythmic and targeted manner to promote value enhancement.

China Unicom's strategy is also reflected in its financial data. In the first three quarters of 2020, China Unicom's operating income was 225.355 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.8%; its net profit was 10.824 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.2%.

For the future development of 5G, the three major operators need to further improve the coverage of 5G networks and enrich the implementation of 5G applications. In terms of network construction, 2021 will be a period of large-scale deployment. China Unicom proposed to achieve 5G coverage in county towns and key townships; China Mobile stated that in 2021, it will achieve continuous 5G network coverage in county towns and some key townships across the country.

China Mobile dominates the market, China Unicom faces severe challenges

In addition to 5G users, the three major operators also showed differentiation in many other user indicators.

In terms of the number of mobile users, China Mobile had 942 million users in December 2020, with a loss of 1.792 million users in the month and 8.359 million users for the whole year; China Unicom had 305.8 million mobile users in December 2020, with a loss of 1.283 million users in the month and 12.664 million users for the whole year; while China Telecom maintained positive growth in the number of mobile users in both the month and the whole year, with 190,000 new users in the month and 15.45 million new users for the whole year, reaching 351 million users in 2020.

In terms of the number of mobile users, China Telecom has become the only winner among the three major operators, while China Unicom has suffered the most serious user loss. This is also related to number portability. In November 2019, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology held a launching ceremony for number portability, and number portability officially provided services nationwide. China Telecom has undoubtedly become a beneficiary of number portability.

In terms of the number of 4G users, China Mobile added 1.701 million new users in December 2020, and 17.292 million new users for the whole year, with a total of 775 million; China Unicom added 1.123 million new users in December 2020, and 16.415 million new users for the whole year, with a total of 270 million; China Telecom no longer announces the number of 4G users.

In terms of the number of broadband users, China Mobile had 210 million in December 2020, with 1.108 million new users in that month and 23.28 million new users for the whole year; the total number of China Unicom broadband users was 86.095 million, with 338,000 users lost in the month and 2.617 million new users for the whole year; the total number of China Telecom broadband users was 158.5 million, with 370,000 new users in the month and 5.4 million new users for the whole year.

Overall, China Mobile maintains a dominant advantage in multiple data such as the number of mobile users, 5G users, and broadband users; China Telecom maintains positive growth in multiple data and is the only operator that maintains growth in all data; and China Unicom has fallen behind China Mobile and China Telecom in multiple data due to the development strategies it has adopted.

For China Unicom, it will not be an easy task to strike a balance between user growth and profitability in the future.