China's telecommunications industry, long considered one of the world's largest telco markets, has undergone a variety of reforms for decades. The telecommunications industry has continued to develop in recent years through innovations such as 5G technology, the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), cloud computing and more.
In 2022, China had over one billion internet users, accounting for more than one-fifth of internet users worldwide and generating monthly revenue of more than 130 billion yuan ($1.8 billion) from the telecommunications sector. And, as of April 2023, China had accumulated revenue of around 144.88 billion yuan ($20.25 billion).
China Mobile: The Largest Telecommunications Company in the World
In China Mobile's recent annual report, the Beijing-based firm achieved a double-digit increase in its operating revenue. The company's net profit also reportedly maintained favorable growth, and its dividend payment continued to increase.
Mr. Yang Jie, chairman of the company, said in the press release, "In 2022, despite various hurdles and challenges brought about by the complex and changing macro-environment, we worked closely together as a team to seize the valuable opportunities emerging from the flourishing digital economy, anchoring the Company to its position as a world-class information services and sci-tech innovation enterprise.
"We systematically built out new information infrastructure centering around 5G, computing force network (CFN) and capability middle platform and created a new information services system that is equipped with connectivity, computing force and capability. We strove to build new infrastructure, integrate new elements and instigate new growth momentum as we accelerated the establishment of a world-class ‘Powerhouse’," he added while noting the company's stable-to-rising growth.
"Operating revenue continued to record a double-digit increase, with net profit maintaining favorable growth despite a large base. We have also achieved all-around enhancements to customer value, corporate value and shareholder value."
As of 2023, China Mobile was ranked the world's largest telecommunications company by market capitalization at over $189 billion. T-Mobile US and Comcast were the second and third, respectively.
Future Plans
Subsea Cable Networks
Several Chinese state-owned telecom firms are working on the development of a $500 million undersea fiber-optic internet cable network to rival a similar U.S.-backed system. The said project would link Asia, the Middle East and Europe, a move that signals the intensifying tech war between the U.S. and China.
China Telecommunications Corporation (China Telecom), China Mobile Limited and China United Network Communications Group Co. Ltd. (China Unicom), which are the country's three main carriers, are reportedly collectively planning one of the world’s most advanced and far-reaching subsea cable networks.
Artificial Intelligence
China Telecom announced its plan to build a massive computing center in the hi-tech zone of Shanghai in order to provide support to the city’s AI industry.
The state-owned company plans to deploy 40,000 high-power racks, each containing dozens of servers, for intelligent computing and supercomputing. However, the company did not reveal the investment size. By the end of 2022, China had a total of 6.5 million racks.
The computing center in Shanghai’s Lingang New Area will reportedly serve local development of graphics processing units (GPUs) as the world’s dominant GPU maker, Nvidia, is prohibited from selling and distributing its most advanced products to China.
China Telecom recently unveiled that it has jumped on the generative AI bandwagon by launching its own natural language training model.
China Telecom’s cloud unit, CTYun, is currently testing its self-developed, pre-trained large language models. This technology aims to design human-like responses to specific prompts, making it a beneficial tool for customer service chatbots, content writing and more.
Several other Chinese tech giants, including Tencent, Baidu and ByteDance, have also announced their plans to dive into the world of generative AI or support clients’ efforts to upskill large language models.
Additionally, Alibaba just introduced its own ChatGPT-like service called Tongyi Qianwen. "The new AI model will be integrated across Alibaba’s various businesses to improve user experience in the near future. The company’s customers and developers will have access to the model to create customized AI features in a cost-effective way," Alibaba said in a press release.
“We are at a technological watershed moment driven by generative AI and cloud computing, and businesses across all sectors have started to embrace intelligence transformation to stay ahead of the game,” said Daniel Zhang, chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group and CEO of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence. “As a leading global cloud computing service provider, Alibaba Cloud is committed to making computing and AI services more accessible and inclusive for enterprises and developers, enabling them to uncover more insights, explore new business models for growth and create more cutting-edge products and services for society.”
