According to recent data from the Operations Monitoring and Coordination Bureau of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China's telecommunications industry saw steady growth in the first four months of 2025. There was a slight recovery in the growth rate of telecom business volumes and revenue, with mobile internet access traffic continuing to grow rapidly. The development of new information infrastructure, such as 5G, gigabit optical networks, and the Internet of Things, is progressing steadily.
The data reveals that telecom business revenue totaled 598.5 billion yuan in the first four months, marking a 1% increase year-on-year. When calculated at constant prices from the previous year, the total telecom business volume grew by 8.2% year-on-year, a 0.5 percentage point increase from the first quarter.
In terms of telecom users, fixed broadband access users showed steady growth. By the end of April, the total number of fixed internet broadband access users from the three major telecom companies reached 680 million, an increase of 10.09 million from the end of the previous year.
Mobile phone user numbers also showed stable growth, with nearly 60% of users being 5G subscribers. By the end of April, the total number of mobile phone users from the three major telecom companies and China Broadcasting Network reached 1.803 billion, a net increase of 13.44 million from the end of the previous year. The number of 5G mobile phone users reached 1.081 billion, a net increase of 66.87 million from the end of the previous year, accounting for 59.9% of all mobile phone users.
As of the end of April, the three major telecom companies in China recorded 2.737 billion mobile IoT terminal users, an increase of 81.26 million compared to the end of the previous year. The number of internet TV users, including IPTV and OTT services, reached 411 million, with a net gain of 3.025 million users since the end of last year.
In the telecommunications sector, mobile internet traffic continued to grow rapidly, with data usage per user (DOU) exceeding 20GB in April. Over the first four months of the year, total mobile internet traffic reached 1,199 billion GB, marking a 15.6% year-on-year increase. By the end of April, there were 1.582 billion mobile internet users, a net increase of 11.85 million from the end of last year.
Additionally, while the volume of telephone calls continued to decline, mobile SMS services experienced rapid growth.
In terms of communication infrastructure, the construction of gigabit fiber-optic broadband networks progressed steadily. By the end of April, the number of broadband internet access ports nationwide reached 1.226 billion, an increase of 23.8 million from the end of the previous year. Of these, fiber-optic access (FTTH/O) ports reached 1.18 billion, an increase of 23.52 million, accounting for 96.6% of all internet broadband access ports.
The rollout of 5G networks also advanced in an orderly manner. By the end of April, the total number of 5G base stations reached 4.439 million, a net increase of 188,000 since the end of last year. They now comprise 34.9% of all mobile base stations, marking a 1.3 percentage point increase from last year.
Regarding regional development, data indicates a continuous increase in the penetration rates of gigabit and 5G users across different regions. By the end of April, the penetration rates for fixed broadband access at speeds of 1000Mbps and above were 32.6% in the eastern region, 32.7% in the central region, 33.2% in the western region, and 25.4% in the northeastern region. The penetration rates for 5G mobile users were 59.7%, 60.5%, 59.8%, and 59.9% respectively.
Mobile internet access traffic continued to grow rapidly across all regions. In the first four months, mobile internet access traffic in the eastern, central, western, and northeastern regions reached 50.14 billion GB, 28.37 billion GB, 34.46 billion GB, and 6.94 billion GB, with year-on-year growth rates of 14.6%, 16.1%, 15%, and 24.9% respectively.