China Telecom (00728) said it added 2.02 million of 3G subscribers in November, slower than the pace of 2.1 million in the month earlier, with the aggregate number of 3G subscribers reaching 116.63 million by the end of last month.
On wireline broadband business, China Telecom added 420,000 customers in November, with the total number of wireline broadband subscribers of 106.59 million. For local access lines in services, there was a reduction of 1.02 million subscribers in November, with the total number of 144.52 million.
China Telecom said the cumulative net decrease of 1.44 million mobile subscribers for January to November this year was mainly due to the increasing market competition driven by the launch of LTE services and strengthened marketing promotion by its peer. With the approval of commencing the LTE FDD and TD-LTE hybrid network trial in selected cities on the mainland, China Telecom has progressively rolled out 4G handset service in those cities since late July, effectively fostering the number of mobile subscribers rebounded from August onwards.