Zhong Guo Jing Ying Bao·2026-01-30 19:33Core Insights - The Chinese telecommunications industry is at a crossroads as the 2025 statistics reveal a mixed performance, with total telecom business volume growing by 9.1% year-on-year, significantly outpacing GDP growth by 4.1 percentage points, contributing positively to economic growth [2] - However, telecom business revenue growth has declined to only 0.7% in 2025, a drop of 2.5 percentage points from 2024, indicating a trend of stagnation in revenue growth despite overall market improvements [3][4] Group 1: Industry Performance - By the end of 2025, the number of 5G base stations reached 4.838 million, accounting for 37.6% of mobile phone base stations, with an average of 34.4 5G base stations per 10,000 people, exceeding the "14th Five-Year Plan" target [2] - The number of mobile phone users in China reached 1.827 billion, with a penetration rate of 130 devices per 100 people, surpassing the global average by 22.5 percentage points [2] - The number of 5G mobile phone users reached 1.204 billion, with a net increase of 190 million users, representing over 65.9% of total mobile phone users, which is 2.1 times the global average [2] Group 2: Revenue Trends - Telecom business revenue for 2025 was 1.75 trillion yuan, with a growth rate of only 0.7%, down from 3.2% in 2024, and significantly lower than the 6.2% and 8% growth rates in 2023 and 2022, respectively [3][4] - Traditional business revenues, including mobile data and voice services, are declining due to competition from OTT services and pricing pressures, with traditional business revenue down by 0.5% in 2025 [4] Group 3: Emerging Business Growth - New emerging businesses, including cloud computing, big data, and IoT, accounted for 25.7% of telecom industry revenue in 2025, growing by 4.7% year-on-year and contributing 1.2 percentage points to overall revenue growth [6] - Big data business revenue grew by 69.2% year-on-year, driven by demand from enterprise clients for data governance and intelligent applications [6] - The number of IoT terminal users reached 2.888 billion, significantly exceeding the number of mobile phone users, indicating a shift from low-value connections to revenue-generating opportunities [7] Group 4: Transition Challenges - The growth rate of cloud computing revenue slowed to 2.9% in 2025, a significant drop from nearly 30% in 2023, highlighting challenges in the sector [8] - Operators face difficulties in the cloud business due to pricing structures and competition from major cloud providers, which limits their market share in high-end cloud services [9] - Continued investment in data centers and computing networks is squeezing profit margins for operators, with China Mobile's computing network investment reaching 37.3 billion yuan in 2025 [9] Group 5: Future Outlook - The ability of emerging businesses to transition from volume growth to high-quality monetization will depend on the industry's execution in building capabilities, ecosystem cooperation, and capital efficiency [10] - If operators can effectively integrate network advantages with computing services into scalable products, emerging businesses may become a sustainable profit driver for the telecommunications industry [10]