China Mobile Plans to Install a Total of 2.8 Million 5G Sites

China Mobile plans to add 340,000 5G base stations in 2025 despite intending to trim overall capex for the full year. The operator plans depending on the infrastructure to decline 15.6%. With the additional sites, its 5G base station count will hit 2.8 million by the end of the year.

In its annual results statement, the operator forecasted that capex for 2025 would drop 7.8%. This follows a 7.6% drop in 2024 to CNY164 billion ($22 billion), lower than its original CNY173 billion forecast. The operator’s total mobile user base topped 1 billion at end-2024, up from 991 million a year earlier.

Its number of 5G network customers grew 18.7% to 552 million. ARPU slipped 1.6% to CNY49.30, average monthly data usage was steady at 15.9GB. Net profit in 2024 rose 5% to CNY138.4 billion, with operating revenue up 3.1% to CNY1 trillion. Service revenue increased 3% to CNY889.5 billion, while product sales improved 3.8% to CNY151.3 billion.

China Mobile now breaks down revenue into four categories: mobile, home broadband smart home, enterprise, and new businesses. Mobile revenue dipped 1.3% to CNY483.7 billion, broadband grew 8.5% to CNY106.8 billion, the enterprise was up 8.8% to CNY209.1 billion, and new market 8.7% to CNY53.6 billion.