The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) recently released the economic performance of the telecommunications industry for the period of January to August 2023. The data shows that telecom service revenue and overall volume continue to grow steadily. From January to August, the cumulative telecom service revenue reached 1.1417 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.2%. The telecom service volume, calculated at constant prices compared to the previous year, increased by 16.6%.
Revenue from emerging businesses maintains rapid growth. The three major telecom operators actively develop emerging businesses such as cloud computing, big data, the Internet of Things (IoT), and internet data centers. From January to August, they achieved a total business revenue of 239.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 18.9%, accounting for 21% of the total telecom service revenue. This contributed to a 3.5 percentage point increase in telecom service revenue growth. Cloud computing and big data revenues increased by 35.4% and 44.8% respectively, while IoT business revenue grew by 24.8%.
In contrast, fixed internet broadband service revenue showed steady growth. From January to August, the three major telecom operators achieved a revenue of 174.1 billion yuan from internet broadband services, a year-on-year increase of 7.3%. This accounted for 15.2% of the total telecom service revenue, a 0.1 percentage point increase compared to the period from January to July, contributing to a 1.1 percentage point increase in telecom service revenue growth.
Revenue from mobile data traffic services grew at a slower rate. From January to August, the three major telecom operators achieved a revenue of 443.2 billion yuan from mobile data traffic services, a year-on-year increase of 0.5%. This accounted for 38.8% of the total telecom service revenue, contributing to a 0.2 percentage point increase in telecom service revenue growth.
Revenue from voice services continued to decline. From January to August, the three major telecom operators achieved revenues of 12.64 billion yuan and 75.92 billion yuan from fixed voice and mobile voice services respectively, representing a year-on-year decrease of 9% and 1.9%. These revenues accounted for a total of 7.8% of the telecom service revenue, a 0.6 percentage point decrease compared to the same period last year.