[ET Net News Agency, 16 August 2019] HSBC Global Research lowered its target price for
China Tower (00788) to HK$1.97 from HK$2.36 and downgraded its rating to "hold" from "buy"
on lower tenancy ratio estimates.
The research house said China Unicom (00762) attempted to share 4G rollout costs with
China Telecom (00728), but with little tangible impact. With 5G the potential investment
is larger, and the benefits would be less skewed to Unicom. There is less potential for
active sharing with China Mobile (00941), but a near-term roaming agreement is possible,
as is more active sharing later on.
HSBC adjusted its tenancy ratio forecast to reflect its view that some form of sharing
is likely - it now modeled a medium-term tenancy ratio of 1.54 (HSBC's prior estimate of
1.68 becomes its bull case). (KL)