China's Telecom Sector Revenue Reached 1.16 Trillion Yuan in Jan-Aug 2026

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) released its report on the economic performance of the telecommunications industry for the first eight months of 2026. The sector's cumulative revenue reached 1.16 trillion yuan, a decrease of 2.2% year-on-year. When adjusted for previous year's prices, the total volume of telecommunications business increased by 7.6%.

Fixed broadband subscriber numbers continued to grow steadily, with an ongoing increase in gigabit connection users. By the end of August, the total number of fixed internet broadband access users reached 704 million. Of these, 674 million users had connection speeds of 100 Mbps or higher, accounting for 95.6% of the total. Users with gigabit (1000 Mbps or higher) speeds reached 263 million, representing 37.3% of the total user base.

Mobile phone user numbers saw growth, with the 5G user base continuing its expansion. As of the end of August, there were 1.849 billion mobile phone users in total. Among them, 1.311 billion were 5G users, making up 70.9% of all mobile users. Mobile IoT terminal users also saw significant growth, reaching 3.07 billion.

Cumulative mobile internet access traffic increased by 17.3% to 297.1 billion GB. Meanwhile, call volumes continued to decline. The number of 5G base stations reached 5.195 million, accounting for 39.7% of all mobile base stations. The ministry continues to promote network infrastructure development.