China Tower said its net profit in the first quarter climbed 15% year-on-year to CNY2.50 billion
China Tower ended the first quarter of this year with a total of 2.06 million towers under management, after a new addition of 7,000 sites during the period.
In a release, the company said that total tower tenants rose to 3.62 million at end-Q1, pushing the average number per tower to 1.76 from 1.74 at the end of Q1-2022.
China Tower’s net profit in the first quarter climbed 15% year-on-year to CNY2.50 billion ($362.7 million), while operating revenue grew 2.5% to CNY23.19 billion.
“Smart tower” revenue amounted to CNY1.63 billion in the first quarter of the year, climbing 37.6% year-on-year, while sales from the company’s energy unit increased 47.8% year-on-year to CNY949 million.
Also, tower business revenue declined by 3% to CNY18.83 billion, while indoor distributed antenna system (DAS) sales increased by 27.1% to CNY1.7 billion.
“In 2023, the company will firmly grasp the opportunities brought forth by the development of 5G new infrastructure, digital economy and dual carbon strategies…In terms of the smart tower business, we will leverage on our mid-to-high point monitoring capabilities, further transform “telecommunication towers” into “digital towers” and turn “telecommunication shelters” into “digital shelters”,” China Tower said.
China Tower was formed in 2014, when the country’s mobile carrier China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom transferred their telecom towers to the new company. The three telcos decided to create the new entity in a move to reduce redundant construction of telecommunications infrastructure across the country. China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom currently own a 38%, 28.1% and 27.9% stake respectively. State-owned asset manager China Reform Holding owns the remaining 6%.
Chinese operators had deployed a total of 2.29 million 5G base stations nationwide as of the end of November 2022, according to data from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. This figure represents an increase of 862,000 compared to the end of 2021 and accounts for 21.1% of all mobile base stations in the country.
Chinese operators recorded a net gain of 25.76 million 5G subscribers in February, according to the operators’ latest available statistics.
China Mobile, the world’s largest operator in terms of subscribers, added a total of 16.6 million 5G subscribers during February. The carrier said it ended last month with 639.1 million 5G subscribers.
Meanwhile, China Telecom added 5.19 million 5G subscribers last month to take its total 5G subscribers base to 278.18 million.
Rival operator China Unicom said it added a total of 3.97 million 5G subscribers during last month. The carrier ended February with 219.76 million 5G subscribers.
