Ministry of Industry and Information Technology: Telecom business revenue totaled 1.16 trillion yuan in the first 8 months, down 2.2% year on year

The Zhitong Finance App learned that data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology shows that in the first eight months, telecom business revenue totaled 1.16 trillion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 2.2%. The total telecom business volume, calculated at constant prices for the previous year, increased 7.6% year over year. In the first eight months, the total volume of telecommunications services grew steadily. The construction and application of networks such as 5G and gigabit optical networks continued to advance, the number of connected users steadily expanded, and mobile Internet access traffic maintained a relatively rapid growth trend.

The original text is as follows:

The economic performance of the communications industry in the first 8 months of 2026

In the first eight months, the total volume of telecommunications services grew steadily. The construction and application of networks such as 5G and gigabit optical networks continued to advance, the number of connected users steadily expanded, and mobile Internet access traffic maintained a relatively rapid growth trend.

I. Overall operation

In the first eight months, telecom business revenue totaled 1.16 trillion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 2.2%. The total telecom business volume, calculated at constant prices for the previous year, increased 7.6% year over year.

Figure 1. Cumulative growth rate of telecom business revenue and total telecom business volume

II. Development of telecom users

The number of fixed broadband access users is growing steadily, and the number of gigabit users continues to increase. By the end of August, the total number of fixed Internet broadband access users of the three basic telecom companies reached 704 million, a net increase of 13.65 million over the end of the previous year. Among them, there were 674 million fixed Internet broadband access users with an access rate of 100 Mbps and above, accounting for 95.6% of the total number of users; 263 million fixed Internet broadband access users with an access rate of 1000 Mbps and above reached 263 million, a net increase of 24.27 million over the end of the previous year, accounting for 37.3% of the total number of users, an increase of 2.8 percentage points compared to the end of the previous year.

The number of mobile phone users is growing steadily, and the number of 5G users continues to expand. By the end of August, the total number of mobile phone users of the three basic telecom companies and China Radio and Television reached 1,849 million, a net increase of 22.16 million over the end of the previous year. Among them, the number of 5G mobile phone users reached 1,311 million, a net increase of 107 million over the end of the previous year, accounting for 70.9% of mobile phone users.

Figure 2 5G mobile phone user situation

Mobile IoT end users are growing rapidly. By the end of August, the three basic telecom companies had developed 3.07 billion mobile IoT end users, a net increase of 182 million over the end of the previous year. The number of Internet TV (IPTV, OTT) users reached 408 million, a decrease of 84,000 from the end of the previous year.

III. Telecom service usage

The cumulative mobile Internet access traffic maintained double-digit growth, and the DOU value remained high in August. In the first 8 months, the cumulative mobile Internet access traffic reached 297.1 billion GB, an increase of 17.3% over the previous year. By the end of August, the number of mobile Internet users reached 1,638 million, a net increase of 28.58 million over the end of the previous year. In August, the average household mobile Internet access traffic (DOU) reached 23.45 GB/household/month, an increase of 12.4% over the previous year, and 0.41 GB/household/month higher than at the end of the previous year.

Telephone calls continued to decline. In the first eight months, mobile phone inbound calls reached 1.3 trillion minutes, a year-on-year decrease of 6.7%; landline callers completed 37.3 billion minutes, a year-on-year decrease of 17.6%. In the first 8 months, the national mobile SMS business volume fell 9.8% year on year; mobile SMS business revenue fell 12.4% year on year.

IV. Status of communication capabilities

The construction of gigabit fiber broadband networks continues to advance. By the end of August, the number of Internet broadband access ports nationwide reached 1.27 billion, a net increase of 23.22 million over the end of the previous year. Among them, the number of optical fiber access (FTTH/O) ports reached 1.23 billion, a net increase of 21.16 million over the end of the previous year, accounting for 96.7% of Internet broadband access ports. By the end of August, the number of 10G PON ports with gigabit network service capabilities reached 33.25 million, a net increase of 1.629,000 over the end of the previous year.

5G base stations account for nearly 40%. By the end of August, the total number of 5G base stations reached 5.195 million, a net increase of 357,000 over the end of the previous year, accounting for 39.7% of the total number of mobile base stations, an increase of 0.3 percentage points over the previous 7 months.

5. Regional developments

The penetration rate of 5G and gigabit users continues to increase in all regions. As of the end of August, the penetration rates of fixed broadband access users of 1000 Mbps and above in the East, Central, West and Northeast regions were 36.6%, 38%, 38.7%, and 32.8%, respectively, up 2, 4.1, 2.6, and 3.8 percentage points from the end of the previous year; 5G mobile phone user penetration rates were 70.3%, 71.9%, 71%, and 71.6%, respectively, up 4.8, 5.4, 5.1 and 5.1 percentage points from the end of the previous year.

The cumulative mobile Internet access traffic in various regions has maintained a relatively rapid growth rate. In the first eight months, the cumulative mobile Internet access traffic in the East, Central, West and Northeast regions reached 126.4 billion GB, 68.66 billion GB, 84.29 billion GB, and 17.72 billion GB respectively, up 18.9%, 15.4%, 16.3%, and 17.7% year-on-year.

This article was selected from the “Ministry of Industry and Information Technology” official website, Zhitong Finance Editor: Li Fu.