Total China Mobile 4G net additions year-to-May 2016 have reached 97.0mn, versus just 80.3 mn year-to-May in 2015. We conclude that overall 4G subscriber momentum continues to be very strong. This is important since, given the absence of unlimited data plans; the higher data usage level of 4G subscribers is driving higher revenue.
On the basis of current pricing, a China Mobile package of 1GB of 4G data and 200 minutes of voice is priced at Rmb 98 /month [China Local Currency ]
For China Unicom, number of 4G subscribers rose by 4.5 mn MoM. This represented a slight improvement versus the 4.4 mn added in April 2016, and it is clear that Unicom's operational momentum has improved versus 2015. YTD, Unicom has added 24.0 mn 4G subscribers, while in the year-to-May 2015 Unicom had added just 3.7 mn 3G/4G subscribers (and clearly underperformed China Mobile's 4G net add momentum at the time).
China Telecom's 4G net additions have reached 26.1 mn, versus just 10.6 mn 3G/4G net additions in the year-to-May 2015. China Telecom's steady 4G subscriber growth is successfully driving strong cellular service revenue growth.
