China’s three state-supported operators – which together account for nearly 17 per cent of global mobile connections – reported mixed results for the first half of the year, with a combined net profit of $11.1 billion (CNY73.7 billion).

While the three have more than 1.3 billion connections, 4G ARPU is only around $12. Nearly half of China’s mobile users are now on 4G plans.

To put that profit in perspective, Verizon and AT&T in the US had a similar combined net profit ($12.7 billion) for the January-June period, but their ARPU was at least four times higher. AT&T’s postpaid ARPU (for all mobile technologies) was $55 in Q2, while Verizon’s was about $45. 75 per cent of Verizon’s total mobile connections base uses 4G, while that figure is 55 per cent for AT&T.

One thing that both markets have in common is that 4G rates are falling. China Mobile saw its 4G ARPU drop 10 per cent in H1 – AT&T has suffered a fall of 8 per cent over the past two years.

Mobile World Live‘s scorecard above shows how China’s big three compare with each other across 10 key metrics – from total subs to 4G adds to net profit.

4G growth
The big trend across the mainland is continued rapid uptake of 4G. In just two and a half years, China’s operators have installed nearly two million 4G base stations and converted nearly 600 million users to 4G plans. China Mobile accounts for 72 per cent of those.

China Unicom, the second largest player, has lagged in 4G growth, falling behind China Telecom. But for the first six months of the year, each has been averaging five million 4G adds a month (China Mobile has been adding four times that per month).

The number two and three players recently added detail to a strategic agreement announced earlier in the year that was seen as a move to boost their competitive position against the market leader. Both confirmed in their interim reports they are partnering to jointly build 60,000 4G base stations and roll out 14,500km of optical fibre, which each expects to reduce capex by as much as CNY3 billion ($451 million) this year.

China Telecom COO Yang Xiaowei noted that the network partnership is about “cooperating for profits, not to rival China Mobile”. That is certainly a more realistic goal than catching the market leader, which has far more than twice as many 4G subscribers as Unicom and Telecom combined.

The editorial views expressed in this article are solely those of the author(s) and will not necessarily reflect the views of the GSMA, its Members or Associate Members.