China’s telecom sector generated revenues of 1.15 trillion yuan (€162 billion) in 2014, up 3.6% on the previous year, according to figures published by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on Tuesday.
Despite the big numbers, growth is slowing. Revenue growth last year was 5.1 percentage points lower than in 2013, the MIIT said.
Mobile revenues accounted for almost three quarters of the total at CNY859.94 billion, an increase of 3.3% on 2013. Fixed-line revenues grew by 4.3% to CNY294.17 billion.
"In 2014 the industry’s reliance on voice services weakened," the MIIT said in a statement. Non-voice revenues accounted for 58.2% of the total, up from 53.2% the previous year.
The growth was driven by an increase in mobile broadband users, which now account for 45.3% of all mobile customers, the take-up of fibre-based broadband services, and IPTV growth: 33.64 million households had IPTV services at the end of last year.
Mobile subscribers in China reached 1.29 billion last year, taking penetration to 94.5%, the MIIT reported, backing up figures published by the operators themselves.
Fixed-line customers fell by 17.6 million during the course of the year to 249 million. As a result, the total number of telephone subscribers across China stood at 1.54 billion at the end of December.
