Bottom line: China could have as many as 400 million 4G subscribers by the end of next year, as the nation’s 2 smaller carriers join China Mobile in offering aggressive promotions starting in January.
4G to explode in 2015
After a period of relative quiet following the iPhone 6’s delayed China launch last month, we’re seeing a sudden flurry of news on the development of 4G service in China. None of the headlines are unexpected, but they do collectively point to a coming explosion in 4G service in 2015. Leading the headlines are reports that the telecoms regulator will give 4G licenses to China’s 2 smaller telcos, China Unicom (HKEx: 762; NYSE: CHU) and China Telecom (HKEx: 728; NYSE: CHA), by the end of this year. At the same time, another report is giving the latest national 4G figures, and yet another headline details Unicom’s aggressive 4G plans for 2015. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on October 25-27. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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China Mobile (HKEx: 941), Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) Partner on Fetion – Source (English article)
HP (NYSE: HPQ) Said To Seek Buyer For Majority Stake Of Chinese H3C Unit (English article)
Two news stories in the telecoms space reflect the obstructionist role that the country’s big 3 telcos often play when it comes to boosting competition in their tightly regulated sector. The first story involves moves by the regulator to revive its sputtering program to juice up the sector with competitive products offered by dozens of recently licensed virtual network operators (VNOs). The second story involves the glacially slow progress in “number portability” — a years-old initiative that would encourage more competition by allowing consumers to keep their old mobile phone numbers when changing carriers. Read Full Post…
With Alibaba’s blockbuster IPO nearly in the past, attention will turn over the next few weeks to tech giant Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and the mystery surrounding the lack of a launch schedule for its new iPhone 6 in China. While Alibaba is a story of hype, the iPhone 6 saga is quickly becoming a tale of intrigue, as everyone tries to guess what’s happening behind the scenes to delay this other highly anticipated event. China’s own media are helping to fuel the suspense, with a new report from the Xinhua central news agency providing clues about what looks like a tangle with China’s censors. Read Full Post…
Now that Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) unveiling of its new iPhone 6 is finally in the past, we can finally sit back and take a look at the specifics of the company’s launch plan for China. The only problem is that there isn’t any such plan yet, even though China is now one of Apple’s largest global markets. Instead, there seems to be lots of confusion about when the newest iPhone will officially go on sale on the Chinese mainland.
I can partly sympathize with Apple, as I’m nearly certain the latest confusion is the result of Chinese bureaucracy that’s impossible to control. But at the same time, this kind of sloppy move will only further undermine Apple’s reputation, which is already under regular attack by central Chinese media that are constantly looking for new ways to find fault with this trendy but secretive company. Read Full Post…
After several false alarms, China’s slow-moving telecoms regulator has finally made its highly anticipated award of 4G licenses to the nation’s 2 smaller telcos, providing a much needed boost as they lose share to dominant telco China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL). Now China Telcom (HKEx: 728; NYSE: CHA) and China Unicom (HKEx: 762; NYSE: CHA) will have to quickly build networks based on 4G FDD-LTE technology, the standard used in most of the rest of the world that will now finally make its debut in China. Read Full Post…
China’s 2 smaller telcos, China Telecom (HKEx: 728; NYSE: CHA) and China Unicom (HKEx: 762; NYSE: CHU), are reportedly urging the telecoms regulator to quickly give them new 4G licenses as they find themselves in the uncomfortable position of rapidly losing share to dominant carrier China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL). The development looks a bit worrisome from a broader market perspective, as it appears to show that 3 years of steady gains by the 2 smaller companies in the 3G era could quickly be reversed if the regulator doesn’t act soon, stifling competition and hurting consumers as China Mobile re-emerges as the nation’s overwhelmingly dominant player. Read Full Post…
Last month’s launch of China’s first new mobile services in a decade is showing early signs of shaking up the market, with competition likely to intensify as more licenses are awarded to a new generation of privately owned virtual network operators (VNOs). According to the latest headlines, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) is getting ready to issue its third round of VNO licenses, which allow private companies to sell telecoms services under their own brands by leasing network capacity from the nation’s 3 existing state-run telcos. Read Full Post…
I have to admit I was quite disappointed to read that China’s regulator has set an extremely modest target for a new group of virtual network operators (VNOs) that will finally break the telecoms services monopoly held by China’s big 3 state-run telcos. I wasn’t expecting huge things from this new group of operators, who will lease network capacity from the trio of existing telcos and then sell telecoms services under their own brands. But the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s goal of just 50 million VNO mobile service subscribers by the end of next year looks ridiculously low to me and hints of worries that this new pilot program could be plagued with problems. (English article) Read Full Post…
New signals from Beijing hint at a problem I’ve talked about for the last 2 months as China embarks on a major solar energy program, namely that many new plants being built could become useless white elephants. Potential for such a problem is very real, and could end up not only costing enthusiastic builders of new power plants billions of dollars in wasted funds, but could also leave solar panel makers themselves with huge amounts of unpaid bills. Meantime, the latest signals from Suntech (NYSE: STPFQ) and LDK (NYSE: LDK) indicate these 2 former giants are nearing the end of their lives, as each looks set to disappear in an ongoing industry consolidation. Read Full Post…
After moving extremely slowly throughout the year, the telecoms regulator is suddenly surprising everyone with a flurry of major new announcements in the final weeks of 2013. First the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) issued long-awaited 4G wireless licenses earlier this month, and now we’re learning that it has just issued its first batch of virtual network operator (VNO) licenses. This sudden issue of VNO licenses comes as a bit of a surprise, since there were no advance indications for the timing and many believed the MIIT wouldn’t make the move until next spring. Read Full Post…
