21 Nov, 2007 by CommsDay
China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile company by users, added 6.6 million new users last month bringing its subscriber base to 356.3 million, according to the Beijing-based carrier's website. Meanwhile, fixed-line operators lost customers. China Telecom’s total users fell by 880,000 down to 222.56 million, while China Netcom saw a drop of 370,400 customers to 114.11 million.
China Telecom was due to the intensified market competition, especially from mobile operators’ free incoming call packages, said China Telecom.
A caller-pays billing system, which doesn’t charge users who receive calls was initiated by China Mobile in February, while Unicom followed suit in March.
Despite the drop in fixed-line subscribers, fixed-line operators China Netcom and China Telecom soared in Hong Kong after an official said the fixed-line companies may be granted licenses to provide high-speed wireless services.
China Netcom jumped 11.1 per cent to close at HK$23.50, while China Telecom closed at HK$5.89, rising 8.07 per cent.
China Mobile’s growth may spur the government to speed up the issuing of third-generation permits to promote competition in the industry.
“Mobile substitution is the trend, and there’s not much the fixed-line operators can do,” Marvin Lo, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Daiwa Institute of Research said. “Getting mobile licenses is the only solution.” China’s Ministry of Information Industry hasn’t set a timetable for issuing 3G licenses or said how many licenses it will grant.
In January 2006 the ministry picked China’s TDSCDMA standard as one of its high-speed technologies. Trial networks based on the home-grown technology are being built in ten cities including Beijing and Tianjin.
