China Mobile

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

China Mobile Limited
中国移动有限公司
  • 9808 (China)
  • 58453 (International)
Traffic Levels5-10Tbit/s[5]
Websitewww.10086.cn
www.chinamobileltd.com
Footnotes / references
Source of the financial figures: the consolidated financial statements[4]
China Mobile Limited
Hanyu Pinyin
Zhōngguó Yídòng

China Mobile is the trade name of both China Mobile Limited (

largest wireless carrier in China, with 945.50 million subscribers as of June 2021.[7] China Mobile was ranked #25 in Forbes' Global 2000 in 2023.[8]

China Mobile Limited is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.[2] It is the world's largest mobile network operator by total number of subscribers.[9] It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue.

As of 31 October 2020, China Mobile Limited's total market value stood at HK$965 billion, which is the largest red chip company.[10]

History

Incorporated in 1997 as China Telecom (Hong Kong) Limited,[1] China Mobile was born from the 1999 break-up of China Telecommunications Corporation.[11] This company continues to provide mobile services, however.[12]

In May 2008, the company took over

ISP in China[14]
adding Internet services to its core business of mobile services.

In October 2014, Nokia and China Mobile signed a $970 million framework deal for delivery between 2014 and 2015.[15]

In December 2021, China Mobile announced that its international arm would cease operations in Canada due to national security concerns by the Canadian government.[16]

U.S. sanctions

In November 2020, President

Weibo post by the company.[22]

In March 2022, the Federal Communications Commission designated China Mobile's U.S. subsidiary, China Mobile International USA, a national security threat.[23]

Ownership and control

A

Chinese mobile services since its inception for civilian and military purposes. According to the United States Department of Defense, the company has links to the People's Liberation Army.[24] As of 2010, China Mobile controls the vast majority of its domestic mobile services market with a 70% market share.[12] China Unicom and China Telecom have 20% and 10% shares, respectively.[12]

The company likely enjoys substantial protectionist benefits from China's government[25] but also experiences frequent government intervention in its business affairs.[26] Government control is maintained through a presumably government-owned holding company, China Mobile Communications Group Co., Ltd. (formerly: China Mobile Communications Corporation; CMCC), that owns 100 percent ownership of China Mobile (HK) Group Limited,[27] which in turn holds over seventy percent ownership of China Mobile–the remainder being controlled by public investors.[2] Established in 2000,[27] CMCC is China Mobile Ltd's current parent company as of 2019.[4]

Services

Rural services

Wang Jianzhou, chairman and CEO during the Market Insight: Frontier Markets plenary session in Tianjin, China, 28 September 2008[28]
Display of China Mobile phones, 2010

China Mobile was one of six state-owned companies that implemented the Connecting Every Village Project, which the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology began in 2004 to promote universal access to telecommunication and internet services in rural China.[29]: 24–25  The MIIT required that China Mobile and the other state-owned companies build the communications infrastructure and assist in financing the project.[29]: 25  As of December 2019, 135 million rural households had used broadband internet.[29]: 25  The program successfully extended internet infrastructure throughout rural China and promoted development of the internet.[29]: 25 

China Mobile has historically held a greater share of the rural market than competitors.[30] By 2006, its network had expanded to provide reception to 97% of the Chinese population,[31] and the company has since seen a sustained stream of new, rural mobile customers.[30]

It also offers services targeted at the rural market including an agricultural information service, which facilitates a variety of activities such as the sale and purchase of agricultural products, access to market prices for produce and crops, wire transfers, bank withdrawals, and payments, etc.[32]

Overseas activities

The company branched out in 2007 with the purchase of

Zong brand there a year later.[34]

In 2013, China Mobile eyed expansion into Myanmar expressing interest in bidding for one of two licences on offer in a partnership with Vodafone although this plan ultimately fell through.[35]

Digital barrier removal

In 2023, China Mobile's

QR codes as part of a program to remove barriers between the ecosystems of technology companies in China.[36]

Brands

Mainland China

A China Mobile store in Shenzhen

Mobile services are available in Mainland China under several brands as of 2007.[37] As of 2013, the below brands are scheduled to be slowly phased out and replaced by an all-encompassing new brand name—And[38]—whose logo combines an exclamation point, the Chinese character for "peace" (; ), as well as the English word "and".[39]

GoTone

(Chinese: 全球通; pinyin: Quánqiútōng Rough translation: "Global Connect"): subscription[40] flagship brand[41]

M-zone

(Chinese: 动感地带; pinyin: Dònggǎndìdài Rough translation: "Dynamic Area"): a premium prepaid service popular with youths[41]

Easyown
A sign near a China Mobile fiber-optic cable reminds of the legal responsibility for damaging telecommunication cables.

(Chinese: 神州行; pinyin: Shénzhōuxíng Rough translation: "Travel across China"[40] (lit. "travel the holy states")): a basic prepaid mobile phone service more heavily marketed in rural areas[31]

G3

A 3G service brand using

TD-SCDMA[39]
(likely introduced post-2007)

and!和

A 4G/LTE service brand using

TD-LTE

Hong Kong

Pakistan