Landline operators continue to lose subscribers

China’s top two landline operators, China Telecom (0728.HK, CHA.NY) and China Netcom (0906.HK, CN.NY), lost 3.16 million users and 1.72 million users respectively during the first quarter of the year, China Business News reported. Industry observers said subscribers were switching to mobile service providers. China Telecom had 217 million landline users at the end of the quarter and 37.71 million broadband subscribers, up 2.06 million on a year earlier. Its revenues for the quarter grew 1.6% year-on-year to US$6.23 billion (RMB43.60 billion). China Netcom had 109 million landline users and 21.66 million broadband users, up 1.89 million on a year earlier. Its revenue was up 0.85% year-on-year to US$2.93 billion (RMB20.49 billion) over the quarter. Meanwhile, China Mobile (941.HK, CHL.NK), the world’s largest mobile phone operator, said Monday that net profit climbed 37.2% from a year earlier to US$3.45 billion (RMB 24.1 billion) in the first quarter due to strong growth in subscribers and lower corporate income tax. It added 22.8 million new subscribers in the quarter, bringing its total users to 392 million. Smaller mobile services rival China Unicom (600050.SH, 0762.HK, CHU.NY) said last Friday its total subscribers hit 167 million at the end of March.