China Mobile said its revenue from the 5G dedicated network segment grew 107.4% year-on-year in 2022
China Mobile had signed over 18,000 agreements for 5G commercial projects across multiple sectors by the end of 2022. In a statement, the telco said that the total value of DICT (data, information and communications technology) contracts amounted to CNY36.5 billion ($925.8 billion), which is an increase of 107.4% year-on-year.
“We achieved industry leadership in segments including smart mining, smart factories, smart grid, smart hospitals, smart city and autonomous driving,” China Mobile said.
Meanwhile, rival telco China Telecom said that the cumulative number of 5G commercial projects developed by the company reached approximately 15,000 as of the end of last year of which the number of newly added projects in 2022 exceeded 8,000. “This [expansion in commercial 5G contracts] fully unleashed new momentum of transformation for vertical industries,” China Telecom said. “Meanwhile, emerging businesses, such as network security, Big Data, AI and digitalized platform, have gradually become new drivers for industrial digitalization development. In 2022, revenue from industrial digitalization of the company amounted to CNY117.8 billion, representing a year-on-year growth of 19.7% on a comparable basis.”
China Unicom said it has built over 16,000 large-scale 5G application projects on a cumulative basis as of the end of 2022. The telco also noted it has built more than 1,600 fully 5G-connected factories.
“Mainland China is the largest 5G market in the world, accounting for more than 60% of global 5G connections at the end of 2022. With strong takeup of 5G among consumers, the focus of operators is now increasingly shifting to 5G for enterprises. This offers opportunities to grow revenues beyond connectivity in adjacent areas such as cloud services — a segment where operators in China have recently made significant progress,” according to a recent GSMA report called “The Mobile Economy China 2023.”
“Operators in China will spend $291 billion on their networks during 2023–2030. Following extensive 5G network buildout over the last few years, resulting in record CapEx intensity in China, overall capex will begin to trend downwards in the coming years as operators turn their focus to generating returns on investment,” the report stated.
China is forecasted to reach 1 billion 5G subscribers by 2025, while the number of 5G users by 2030 is expected to reach 1.6 billion, according to the GSMA report.
The number of 5G base stations in China exceeded 2.3 million at the end of 2022, including approximately 887,000 built during the year.
In 2022, mobile technologies and services generated 5.5% of China’s GDP — a contribution that amounted to $1.1 trillion of economic value added. According to the report, 5G technology will add $290 billion to the Chinese economy in 2030, with benefits spread across industries.