5G to lift mobile ARPU in China powering revenue

5G is set to drive China mobile communication services revenue at 3.7 percent CAGR during 2020-2025, forecasts GlobalData.
5G forecast for China
The mobile services revenue in China is set to increase from $119.1 billion in 2020 to $142.8 billion in 2025, at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.7 percent, supported by 5G infrastructure, increase in mobile data consumption and rising data average revenue per user (ARPU), according to GlobalData.

In China, the top 3 service providers are building out large-scale 5G coverage, and the country is estimated to reach 175 million 5G subscriptions by the end of 2020, Ericsson Mobility report for November 2020 indicated.

Mobile messaging revenue will drop significantly. Mobile voice revenue will see a steady decline over the forecast period. Mobile data service revenue will grow at a robust CAGR of 8.5 percent between 2020 and 2025, driven by the rising average monthly data usage and adoption of higher ARPU 5G plans.

5G subscriptions in China are expected to witness significant growth from 2020 to 2025 (CAGR of 40.6 percent) and will outdo 4G in the total mobile subscription share in 2023.

China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom have already launched 5G services.

Government policies for the development of 5G infrastructure will increase M2M/IoT subscriptions, which are forecasted to grow from 175.6 million to 253.9 million, at a CAGR of 7.7 percent during the forecast period.

Mobile data services segment represents the largest revenue contributor to the overall mobile services market in China.

Mobile data ARPU will grow from $3.91 per month in 2020 to $5.52 per month in 2025, driven by the increase in the adoption of higher ARPU 5G mobile service plans offered by operators, Antariksh Raut, senior analyst of Telecoms Market Data and Intelligence at GlobalData, said.