|
Research and Markets Adds Report: 2008 Asia - Telecoms, Mobile and
Broadband in China
(Wireless News Via Acquire Media NewsEdge)
Research and Markets has announced the addition of "2008 Asia -
Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband in China" to its offerings.
In a release, Research and Markets noted that report highlights include:
The China market, although large, still has low penetration rates and
this is an excellent indicator for future growth. The report covers
trends and developments in telecommunications, mobile, Internet,
broadband, digital TV and converging media including IPTV developments.
The Chinese telecommunications market is the largest in the world. With
the mobile sector still expanding at over 18 percent going into 2008,
the long-awaited licensing of 3G services is getting closer and will
surely give the market yet another boost. There continues to be a major
need for industry restructuring and government action is expected in
conjunction with the issuing of 3G licenses. Telecommunications
development figures prominently in the nation s priority scheme as
China readies itself for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The Chinese telecom market is serviced by six main operators: China
Telecom, China Netcom, China Mobile, China Tietong (formerly China
Railcom), China Satcom and China Unicom. State agencies have been
discussing possible mergers among the operators as part of the industry
restructuring. In the past five years, as one of the country s pillar
industry , China s telecom service industry has grown at a faster rate
than the country s GDP. According to official statistics from the
Ministry Information of Industry, revenue from basic telecom service
contributes approximately 2.1 percent of the country s GDP, while
value-added telecom services contribute a further 3.2 percent to total
GDP.
By the end of 2007, mobile penetration in China stood at 41.4 percent,
following a record level of subscriber additions during the year. The
robust growth was due to an expanding rural market and the increasing
number of people who have acquired more than one mobile phone. Both
China Mobile and China Unicom have invested considerably in network
improvements, especially in rural China, where approximately 750
million of China s population resides and teledensity is just 12
percent. For many of China s tech-savvy citizens, the mobile phone is
becoming the preferred means of using the Internet. The number of
people who access the Internet through their mobile phone surged to 50
million in 2007 from 17 million at the end of 2006, about a quarter of
China s Internet users. For more information, see chapter 8, page 144.
Since the implementation of one-way charging implemented nationwide in
the middle of 2007, the substitution of fixed-line services by mobile
networks has accelerated. While China Mobile and China Unicom added
over 86 million users, or roughly 7 million a month, the fixed-line
customer base shrank by 2.3 million to around 365 million, a
penetration of 27.8 percent. By February 2008, the number of mobile
phone users reached 565 million, exceeding the fixed-line subscription
base of 362 million. Looking ahead, total mobile subscriber numbers are
forecast to pass 600 million in 2008, but crucially market penetration
will remain below 50 percent, meaning the Chinese market still has a
lot of untapped potential.
China became the second largest broadband market in the world after the
US in 2004, after it had passed Japan earlier in that year and South
Korea in 2003. Falling equipment prices, low service tariffs and strong
consumer demand for services such as online gaming and file sharing
have been some of the reasons behind the impressive growth of
broadband. There is little doubt that China will soon pass the US to
become the world s top broadband market. According to the annual survey
conducted by China Internet Network Information Centre, going into
2008, Internet users stood at 210 million, over 75 percent using
broadband for Internet access. For more information, see chapter 6,
page 71.
Report information: http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c91163.
((Comments on this story may be sent to newsdesk@closeupmedia.com))
((Distributed on behalf of 10Meters via M2 Communications Ltd -
http://www.m2.com))
((10Meters - http://www.10meters.com))
Copyright ? 2008 Wireless News
[ Back To asia.tmcnet.com's Homepage ]
|
