China's telecommunications industry registered faster growth of revenue in the first quarter (Q1) of the year, the country's news agency Xinhua reported quoting official data.
According to the report, the combined industrial revenue rose 6.5 % year-on-year to 360.1 billion yuan ($55.46 billion) in Q1, up 4.7 % percentage points from the growth in Q1 last year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
By the end of March, China's three telecom giants -- China Telecom, China Mobile, and China Unicom -- had 1.6 billion mobile phone users, with the number of 5G subscribers reaching 285 million, the ministry said.
Meanwhile, the three telecom companies also saw a steady increase in the number of fixed broadband internet users by the end of March, with subscribers rising to 497 million, a net increase of 13.71 million from the end of last year.
In a separate report, China Mobile, one of the country's leading telecommunication operators, reported profit growth of 2.3 % year on year in the first quarter (Q1) of 2021.
As of the end of March, mobile subscribers of the company came in at 940 million, with 5G network subscribers reaching 92.76 million.