China Mobile Bets Big on 5G

China Mobile reported a 3% increase in revenue for 2020 to 768 billion Chinese yuan (117.4 billion US dollars).  Wireline broadband revenue increased by 17.4% year-on-year and reached 81 billion yuan, while revenue from applications and information services increased by 22.4% year-on-year and reached 101 billion yuan. 

At the end of 2020, the number of mobile customers reached 942 million of which 165 million customers used 5G. The average handset data traffic per user per month increased by 39% to 9.4GB. However, China Mobile also reported a 1.2% fall in Internet of Things connections to 873 million.

In 2020, China Mobile said it invested 102.5 billion yuan in 5G, adding: "Our cloud-based and centralised standalone (SA) core network commenced operations in September 2020. Throughout the year, we built and put in use around 340,000 new 5G base stations, bringing the total number of 5G base stations to a cumulative 390,000, providing 5G services to all prefecture-level cities, selected counties and key areas in China."  Source: China Mobile statements

Mobile Data and Mobile Money Boost MTN

 

MTN reported a 12% increase in group service revenue to 170 billion South African rand (11.7 billion US dollars) for 2020.  Revenue in Nigeria rose almost 15% and in Ghana almost 17%, while growth in MTN's home market of South Africa was 1.6%. The group saw a 28.8 million increase in subscribers to 279.6 million. 

Fintech revenue rose by almost 24% as the number of active mobile money users increased by 11.7 million to 46.4 million, generating a monthly ARPU of 1.2 dollars. The total value of mobile money  transactions in 2020 was 152 billion dollars, as MTN processed 12,400 transactions per minute (up 35% from 2019). "While COVID-19 accelerated the adoption of mobile financial services, growth in fintech revenue was moderated by reductions in transaction fees to support our customers, lockdown restrictions on agents and a slowdown in economic activity," MTN said.  It also reported that its new aYo insurance joint venture had 11 million registered policy holders and 6 million active policies by the end of 2020. In total, aYo generated 10.5 million dollars in premium income. 

Digital revenue increased by 27% in 2020. "We expanded our instant messaging platform ayoba making good strides in the year, to record 5.5 million monthly active users, an addition of 3.5 million. It has now been integrated into 16 MTN markets and can be downloaded across many other markets on the Google Play store, Apple App Store and via the ayoba website as an OTT offering. In the year, ayoba expanded its services to include music, gaming, channels and money transfer. Streaming service MusicTime! is now live in nine MTN markets, and 15 opcos live with MusicTime in the ayoba app." 

MTN said it is aiming to have 100 million mobile money users and 100 million ayoba users by 2025.  Source: MTN report

China Telecom Talks Up 5G

In 2020, China Telecom increased revenues 4.7% to 394 billion yuan (60 billion US dollars), as wireline service revenues rose 5.5% to 119 billion yuan. It reported 86.5 million "5G package subscribers", representing a penetration rate of 24.6%.

Revenue from "smart family" packages (containing broadband, a home platform, applications and security services) reached 11.1 billion yuan, representing an increase of 37.5%.

The telco also said it is rolling out "5G innovative applications" such as remote control, machine vision, and automated guided vehicles. By the end of the year, China Telecom had signed contracts with nearly 1,900 customers for its 5G industry applications, with more than 1,100 use cases being launched. Source: China Telecom statements.