China Mobile reveals cost control and Capex achievements

China Mobile boasts 60 percent share in mobile subscribers and 52 percent share in mobile service revenues in 2018.
China Mobile Capex for 2019
China Mobile has achieved 13.2 percent reduction in average maintenance expense per base station, 2.9 percent cut in average electricity expenses per frequency network and 5.5 percent drop in average selling expenses per customer.

China Mobile’s operating expenditure fell 0.8 percent to RMB615.432 billion in 2018. Opex currently represents 83.5 percent of total revenue of China Mobile.

China Mobile controlled expenses on underperforming and inefficient network operation and maintenance, and other IT expenses.

China Mobile adopted IT such as intelligent technologies in order to cut costs. It restructured and revitalised assets. China Mobile will close 600 under-performing and ineffective physical retail outlets in 2019.

China Mobile will revamp 1,000 physical retail outlets based on the “new retail” model in 2019. The mobile operator will also develop and produce proprietary intelligent hardware with extensive market launch.

Capex

China Mobile has revealed the annual Capex (capital expenditure) for 2019 – ahead of its 5G network launch.

China Mobile is aiming to spend RMB150 billion in 2019 towards Capex as compared with RMB167 billion in 2018 and RMB177.5 billion in 2017.

China Mobile’s Capex to sales ratio fell to 24.9 percent in 2018 as compared with 26.6 percent in 2017.

China Mobile’s Capex spending in 2018 was 41 percent on mobile communication networks, 33.2 percent on transmission networks, 10.4 percent on business networks, 8.7 percent on buildings, infrastructure and power systems, 5 percent on support systems and 1.7 percent on others.

China Mobile in 2019 aims to keep 45.5 percent of its total Capex spending on mobile communication networks, 30.3 percent on transmission networks, 5 percent on business networks, 7.6 percent on buildings, infrastructure and power systems, 10.2 percent on support systems and 1.4 percent on others.

China Mobile has 2.41 million 4G base stations to ensure 4G network coverage capability. It made investment in CDN edge nodes resulting into better customer experience. China Mobile made investment in a backbone network to enhance transmission and loading capability.

China Mobile will upgrade broadband speed and quality to ensure growth of 4G data traffic.  It will increase network utilization, enhance resource sharing and aims to lower unit production cost.

China Mobile aims to achieve 5G pre-commercial launch in certain cities in 2019. The 5G commercial launch will be in 2020.

The largest telecom operator is aiming to add 25 million household broadband customers and 300 million IoT smart connections in 2019.

Revenue

China Mobile reported operating revenue of RMB736.8 billion (+1.8 percent) including telecom service revenue of RMB670.9 billion (+3.7 percent).

China Mobile reported IoT revenue of RMB7.53 billion (+40.2 percent) and ICT, Cloud computing, Big Data revenue of RMB4.19 billion (+75.3 percent) last year.

China Mobile has mobile customer base of 925 million, representing a net addition of 37.87 million. Total number of wireline broadband customers was 157 million, representing a net addition of 44 million.

The total number of 4G customers reached 713 million including 380 million VoLTE (Voice over LTE) customers in 2018. Total handset data traffic increased by 182.1 percent. Mobile ARPU reached RMB53.1 in 2018 as compared with RMB57.7 in 2017. China Mobile’s 4G ARPU fell to RMB61.3 in 2018 from RMB66.4 in 2017.

Baburajan K