China Mobile’s subscribers break 400 million barrier

China Mobile garnered another 7.491 million subscribers in May to reach a total of 407 million users, while China’s leading fixedline operator, China Telecom, suffered a net subscriber loss of 820,000 during the same period. This marked the 10th consecutive month of net subscriber loss for China Telecom, bringing its base to 215 million, according to monthly industrial figures published in June.

Meanwhile, a major reshuffle of China’s telecoms sector was announced that saw China Unicom, the country’s second largest mobile operator acquire fixed-line operator China Netcom with a share swap deal. The deal was valued at HK$439.17 billion (US$56.34 billion), based on China Unicom’s share price.

China Unicom also signed a deal with China Telecom to sell its CDMA operations and network for RMB100 billion (US$14.49 billion).

China Unicom originally operated both CDMA and GSM networks, but with the divestment of the CDMA business, can now narrow its focus on GSM or the future WCDMA network to expand its competitive advantage. It has been speculated that China will issue three 3G licences after the reshuffle.