China Mobile and China Unicom, two prominent telecom operators in China, will offer more free Internet access, reduce mobile data tariffs, enhance network speed, etc. as part of their strategy to meet a Government direction.
The new strategy of China Mobile and China Unicom is to meet the latest guidelines from the China Government.
The Government Work Report delivered at the Thirteenth National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China on 5 March 2018 indicated about the immediate need to meet the policy requirements relating to network speed upgrade and tariff reduction.
Both state-owned telecom operators did not reveal any significant change in their Capex (capital spending) plans to improve data speed and network coverage. China Mobile and China Unicom will not be making any revisions in voice tariffs to their wireless customers in China.
China Mobile and China Unicom in separate statements said both mobile operators will take steps to achieve the following:
# measures to upgrade network speed and reduce tariff
# achieve full coverage of high-speed broadband access in urban and rural areas
# expand the coverage of free Internet access in public places
# significantly reduce the tariffs of household broadband, corporate broadband and dedicated line services
# cancel data roaming charges
# reduce mobile data tariff by at least 30 percent in 2018
China Mobile said it will leverage its mobile network advantages, strengthen the innovation of products and businesses, encourage its customers to increase usage of telecom services while upgrading speed and reducing mobile data tariff.
Any investment in mobile networks will positively impact telecom equipment makers such as Huawei, ZTE, Nokia, Ericsson, among others.
China Mobile in a statement issued said it aims to achieve a higher turnover despite a lower profit margin, and reduce the impact on operating results of the relevant policy requirements.
China Mobile has 654.749 million 4G subscribers and 116.763 million wireline broadband connections.
China Unicom earlier said it added 70.33 million 4G subscribers in 2017, reaching 175 million last year. China Unicom’s service revenue is expected to grow at 4.6 percent to approximately RMB 249.0 billion in 2017.
