China’s three largest operators - China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom – registered a further 24.3 million 4G subscribers in May 2017.
This brings their collective additions to 102 million for the first five months of the year, with China’s total LTE users nearly up to 864 million. This figure constitutes around 63.6% of the country’s total mobile subscribers.
China Mobile made the most substantial gains, cementing its lead with 14 million new 4G connections in May, bringing its 2017 total up to 48 million. Its overall LTE base totals 583 million subscribers, representing 68% of its overall base of 863 million.
Second-placed Unicom added 5.6 million 4G subscribers in May, pushing its current 2017 total to 28.8 million. At the end of May it had 133.4 million 4G users, constituting 54% of its 268 million subscribers.
Although third-placed overall, China Telecom leads China Unicom in terms of 4G subscribers, bringing its year-to-date 4G subscriber total up to 25.4 million after adding a further 4.7 million users in May. Its overall LTE subscribers number 147 million of a total subscriber base of 227 million.
