On March 9, China Telecom announced its annual performance in 2020, its revenue came in at RMB 393.56 billion, up 4.7% year-on-year. The company made a net profit of RMB 20.85 billion last year, a 1.6% increase from 2019.
The financial report shows China Telecom detailed plans of maintaining an elevated 5G development. It has deployed 380,000 sites in use. The operator has 86.5 million 5G package subscribers in 2020 with a penetration rate of 24.6%. Its mobile subscribers inched up to 351 million with a net increase of 15.45 million. The company plans put in a capex of RMB 39.7 billion to double its total number of base stations to 700,000 and covers all counties and some towns with 5G. Ke Ruiwen, chairman of China Telecom, stated that this year, China Telecom is targeting a net increase of 12 million mobile users, 80 million 5G subscribers and 5 million broadband Internet users.
The company announced its application to list on the main board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange on the same day. It aims to offer shares of not more than 13% of total shares outstanding. The offering proceeds would be used for themes including 5G networks establishment projects, cloud integrated network infrastructure projects, scientific and technological innovation R&D projects.