China Telecom

China Telecom Corporation Limited (0728.hk) is a leading full-service integrated information service operator in China, as well as one of the three major state-owned basic telecommunications operators. The company primarily provides mobile communications, wireline, and smart home services in China. In recent years, it has actively advanced industrial digitalization, deeply engaging in fields such as cloud computing, big data, AI, and 5G, and has launched commercial AI packages nationwide. The company was listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2002 and is also dually listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

In the Chinese telecommunications market, a highly concentrated competition landscape has long been characterized by a “triopoly.” As the second-largest operator in the market, China Telecom (0728.hk) competes comprehensively with the industry leader, China Mobile, and its major competitor, China Unicom. In recent years, China Broadcasting Network (CBN) has also joined the 5G race as a new entrant.

The competitive analysis from the dimensions of traditional businesses and emerging businesses is detailed below:

1. Traditional Basic Business Competition

The traditional business markets (mobile networks and wireline broadband) are highly saturated, and the three major operators show clear distinctions in subscriber scale.

Mobile Communications Market

China Mobile holds an absolute monopoly advantage in the mobile segment.

• China Mobile: The absolute industry leader, with total mobile subscribers exceeding 1 billion and a market share of approximately 60%.
• China Telecom: Holds a market share of around 26%, with 5G package subscribers exceeding 300 million. To compete against China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom have fully advanced 5G network “co-construction and sharing,” creating the world’s largest shared 5G SA network. This has significantly reduced capital expenditures and narrowed the coverage gap with China Mobile.
• China Unicom: Ranks third in subscriber scale and market share, facing considerable pressure to catch up.

Wireline Broadband Market

Wireline broadband was traditionally China Telecom’s strong suit, but it has faced aggressive encroachment from China Mobile in recent years.

• China Mobile: Leveraging its mobile customer base for bundled sales, China Mobile has now surpassed China Telecom in total broadband subscribers, capturing a market share of over 50%.
• China Telecom: Although its total subscriber base (around 200 million, roughly 31% market share) was surpassed by China Mobile, China Telecom still maintains an exceptionally high reputation for network stability and strong defensive barriers among corporate clients and high-end residential markets in core southern provinces.

2. Industrial Digitalization and Emerging Business Competition (The Core Battlefield)

As revenue growth from traditional telecom services slows down, enterprise-level cloud computing (To B), big data, computing power infrastructure, and AI applications have become the core growth engines and battlefields for the three major operators.

Cloud Computing and Computing Power (e-Surfing Cloud vs. Mobile Cloud vs. Unicom Cloud)

• China Telecom (e-Surfing Cloud): Started the earliest and holds the most leading strategic position among the three operators. e-Surfing Cloud firmly ranks first among state-owned providers in China’s public cloud market, particularly in government cloud and digital transformation for central and state-owned enterprises, with revenue exceeding RMB 100 billion. China Telecom has recently increased its computing power investment to 35% of its capital expenditures, shifting comprehensively toward intelligent computing infrastructure.
• China Mobile (Mobile Cloud): Catching up rapidly by leveraging its formidable financial strength, showing extremely fast revenue growth and utilizing its network-wide resources to pose a direct threat to e-Surfing Cloud.
• China Unicom (Unicom Cloud): Relatively smaller in scale, primarily focusing on specific vertical industries and enterprise private network projects.

AI and Digital Innovation

• China Telecom: Possesses a strong first-mover advantage and technological barriers in commercial AI implementation (such as promoting commercial AI packages, large model computing power leasing, AI Tokens, etc.), as well as differentiated fields like quantum secure communications and satellite communications.

Competition Summary

Competitive Dimension	China Mobile (Leader)	China Telecom (Challenger & Transformer)	China Unicom (Follower)
2025 Revenue Scale	Approx. RMB 1.05 trillion	Approx. RMB 529.6 billion	Approx. RMB 392.2 billion
Core Advantages	Massive financial scale, 1 billion subscriber base, leader in both mobile and broadband segments.	Leading cloud computing (e-Surfing Cloud) corporate foundation, traditional wireline barriers in Southern China, early transition to AI computing power.	Light-asset operational flexibility brought by co-construction and sharing, flexible pricing strategies.
Main Challenges	Deminishing marginal effects on growth due to its massive scale.	Facing encroachment by China Mobile in the broadband segment, intensifying competition in the cloud computing market.	Relatively the weakest among the three in terms of subscriber scale and profit volume.

Conclusion: In traditional businesses, China Telecom adopts a defensive strategy by partnering with China Unicom to counter China Mobile. In the emerging industrial digitalization and AI computing tracks, China Telecom acts as a primary force, leveraging the advantages of e-Surfing Cloud to capitalize on national digital economy dividends like the “East-to-West Computing Resource Efficiency Plan.”

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