Industry News
About 2023-2028 China Telecom Industry Report Forecast: All-fiber broadband network is becoming mature
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Author : JIUZHOU
Update time : 2023-01-06 10:14:02
A report released a report on China's telecommunications industry from 2023 to 2028 predicts that despite the declining population and economic uncertainty, after experiencing market expansion in the past five years, China's telecommunications industry revenue will continue to grow until 2028.

Report overview
Across the globe, the telecommunications industry is proving to be a central and essential infrastructure service to national economies, and data infrastructure is becoming critical in a connected world and is likely to increasingly attract the likes of large infrastructure funds. new investors. The report expects China's telecom sector to remain stable amid the political uncertainty and uncertain economic outlook brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the sector's defensive nature.
Rising mobile phone penetration and high household fixed broadband usage will drive the growth of China's telecom industry over the next five years. The report predicts that mobile subscribers and fixed broadband subscribers will continue to drive growth in the telecom sector during the period 2023-2028. In the past seven years, more than 390 million people have become Internet users, and it is estimated that by 2028, that is, in the next six years, there will be 260 million new Internet users.
Despite a shrinking population and economic uncertainty, China's telecom industry revenue will continue to grow until 2028 after a market expansion over the past five years. The Chinese government is the largest shareholder of the country's three telecommunications service providers, and has great influence over the operators' strategies, network investments, and pricing, and attaches great importance to developing the country's telecommunications infrastructure, as it is closely related to developing the national economy and strengthening the country Unity is closely related.
Capital investment
The capital expenditure of Chinese operators is cyclical, and the launch of mobile services has led to investment in line with operator revenue growth. Capex investment peaked in 2015-2016 as all three operators built their 4G mobile networks and fell to lower levels in 2019, but will increase again from 2022 to 2028 as mobile operators invest in 5G , to enhance 4G coverage and increase capacity to meet strong data demand. Capital spending as a share of GDP soared between 2015 and 2017 and began to decline in 2017.
5G is the backbone of a wide range of technological advancements including self-driving cars, smart cities and the Internet of Things. To this end, China is stepping up its long march to 5G, with the government encouraging the three operators to speed up 5G network construction and install more than 2.1 million 5G base stations by the end of 2022 (statistics from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology show that by the end of November 2022, the total number of 5G base stations reached 228.7 ten thousand).
Mobile Users and Revenue
Average annual growth in mobile revenue (1.3%) over 2015-2021 is lower than growth in mobile service subscriptions (3.6%), underscoring the structural challenges facing mobile operators. Lower voice and SMS revenues were only partially offset by wireless data profitability, which weighed on ARPU, which, combined with reduced dual-sim capabilities, slowed mobile subscription growth.
Population growth is the main growth driver for mobile operators, and slowing mobile subscriber growth will create long-term pressure, intensifying competition among the three mobile operators for fewer new customers.
According to the Mobile Data Pricing Benchmark Study, China has had one of the biggest cost per gigabyte drops over the past 4 years, while India has seen the lowest cost per gigabyte drop of just a few cents and Singapore remains expensive.
The report estimates that China may have 555 million 5G network users by 2022, and that number could increase to over 1.5 billion by 2028 (accounting for about 40% of global 5G users).
Broadband Subscribers - FTTH Pushes Gigabit Speeds
The fixed broadband market is experiencing strong growth, largely due to China Mobile's entry into the market over the past six years as the market leader. Fixed broadband subscriptions are very affordable in China, with lower ARPU than mobile subscriptions, a market singularity where fixed broadband services are typically at least twice as expensive as mobile services in most markets.
Fixed broadband penetration is expected to grow moderately, as China's investment in full-fibre networks has now reached maturity, and affordable packages and increased broadband household penetration are becoming saturated. Meanwhile, fixed broadband customers opted to upgrade their connections, with more than 94 per cent opting for an FTTH subscription with speeds over 100Mbps.

Report overview
Across the globe, the telecommunications industry is proving to be a central and essential infrastructure service to national economies, and data infrastructure is becoming critical in a connected world and is likely to increasingly attract the likes of large infrastructure funds. new investors. The report expects China's telecom sector to remain stable amid the political uncertainty and uncertain economic outlook brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the sector's defensive nature.
Rising mobile phone penetration and high household fixed broadband usage will drive the growth of China's telecom industry over the next five years. The report predicts that mobile subscribers and fixed broadband subscribers will continue to drive growth in the telecom sector during the period 2023-2028. In the past seven years, more than 390 million people have become Internet users, and it is estimated that by 2028, that is, in the next six years, there will be 260 million new Internet users.
Despite a shrinking population and economic uncertainty, China's telecom industry revenue will continue to grow until 2028 after a market expansion over the past five years. The Chinese government is the largest shareholder of the country's three telecommunications service providers, and has great influence over the operators' strategies, network investments, and pricing, and attaches great importance to developing the country's telecommunications infrastructure, as it is closely related to developing the national economy and strengthening the country Unity is closely related.
Capital investment
The capital expenditure of Chinese operators is cyclical, and the launch of mobile services has led to investment in line with operator revenue growth. Capex investment peaked in 2015-2016 as all three operators built their 4G mobile networks and fell to lower levels in 2019, but will increase again from 2022 to 2028 as mobile operators invest in 5G , to enhance 4G coverage and increase capacity to meet strong data demand. Capital spending as a share of GDP soared between 2015 and 2017 and began to decline in 2017.
5G is the backbone of a wide range of technological advancements including self-driving cars, smart cities and the Internet of Things. To this end, China is stepping up its long march to 5G, with the government encouraging the three operators to speed up 5G network construction and install more than 2.1 million 5G base stations by the end of 2022 (statistics from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology show that by the end of November 2022, the total number of 5G base stations reached 228.7 ten thousand).
Mobile Users and Revenue
Average annual growth in mobile revenue (1.3%) over 2015-2021 is lower than growth in mobile service subscriptions (3.6%), underscoring the structural challenges facing mobile operators. Lower voice and SMS revenues were only partially offset by wireless data profitability, which weighed on ARPU, which, combined with reduced dual-sim capabilities, slowed mobile subscription growth.
Population growth is the main growth driver for mobile operators, and slowing mobile subscriber growth will create long-term pressure, intensifying competition among the three mobile operators for fewer new customers.
According to the Mobile Data Pricing Benchmark Study, China has had one of the biggest cost per gigabyte drops over the past 4 years, while India has seen the lowest cost per gigabyte drop of just a few cents and Singapore remains expensive.
The report estimates that China may have 555 million 5G network users by 2022, and that number could increase to over 1.5 billion by 2028 (accounting for about 40% of global 5G users).
Broadband Subscribers - FTTH Pushes Gigabit Speeds
The fixed broadband market is experiencing strong growth, largely due to China Mobile's entry into the market over the past six years as the market leader. Fixed broadband subscriptions are very affordable in China, with lower ARPU than mobile subscriptions, a market singularity where fixed broadband services are typically at least twice as expensive as mobile services in most markets.
Fixed broadband penetration is expected to grow moderately, as China's investment in full-fibre networks has now reached maturity, and affordable packages and increased broadband household penetration are becoming saturated. Meanwhile, fixed broadband customers opted to upgrade their connections, with more than 94 per cent opting for an FTTH subscription with speeds over 100Mbps.
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