China Telecom, the country’s No. 3 operator, said it added just over six million net customers during the third quarter, which was down considerably from the 8.5 million customers the carrier added during the same quarter in 2013. The carrier ended the quarter with 181.1 million total customers on its CDMA-based network.
Customers using 3G services accounted for more than half of the China Telecom’s total customer base and were the driving force in its customer growth as its legacy 2G operations continue to bleed customers. China Telecom’s 3G customer base accounted for just under 40% of the carrier’s total customer base at the end of the third quarter last year. While much of the developed world is witnessing a flattening of voice traffic, China Telecom said it was seeing a continued increase in voice traffic, which increased nearly 20% year-over-year.
Larger rival China Mobile announced last week that it added just over 15 million new customers during the third quarter, pushing its total customer base to more than 755 million subscribers. The Q3 growth was down slightly from the previous year when the carrier added 15.43 million net customers.
Through the first nine months of the year, China Telecom reported a 13.4% increase in operating revenues compared with last year, hitting $39 billion across its wireless and wireline assets. Operating expenses increased a more modest 12.2% over that same time period, helping to boost net profits by 17.1% year-over-year to $2.4 billion through the first nine months of the year.
Looking ahead, China Telecom said it would actively participate in negotiating regulatory policies regarding the issuance of LTE licenses. China’s government has mandated the technology used by the country’s three largest wireless operators, with China Telecom using CDMA-based technology, No. 2 China Unicom using a GSM-based network and No. 1 China Mobile using the home-grown TD-SCDMA standard.
Bored? Why not follow me on Twitter?
