The revenues for telecom and pay-TV services in China will drop 3.7 percent in 2020 to $220 billion, due to Covid-19 impact, according to GlobalData.
Telecom and pay-TV services revenues in China will increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.1 percent over 2021-2024, mainly driven by growth in mobile data, fixed voice and fixed broadband segments.

Mobile data revenue will increase 1 percent in 2020 and to increase at a CAGR of 7.5 percent 2021-2024.

Mobile subscriptions in China reached 1.6 billion in 2019, accounting for 35.6 percent share of the total Asia-Pacific (APAC) mobile subscriptions for the year. Mobile subscriptions will decline 4 percent in 2020. Mobile operators reported subscriber losses in Q1 2020 due to Covid-19, which forced retail stores to shut and spurred consumers to cancel secondary phone numbers.

Samuel Tan, analyst at GlobalData, said: “The adoption of 5G is a bright spark in the midst of the pandemic dampening down economic activity and keeping stores shut. Investments in 5G have been a part of a push for increased infrastructure spending under the Chinese government’s stimulus measures.”

China Mobile, which had 2.55 million 5G users in 2019, aims to add 70 million 5G mobile subscribers in 2020.

China Telecom, which had 4.61 million 5G users in 2019, aims to add 60-80 million to its subscriber bases in 2020.

GlobalData estimates China will have 164 million 5G subscriptions in 2020, which represents an 11 percent share of mobile subscriptions.