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Tag Archives: China Mobile
China Mobile latest Business & Financial news from Doug Young, the Expert on Chinese Companies, (former Journalist and Chief editor at Reuters in Asia)
After more than a year of preparation, China’s newly licensed virtual network operators (VNOs) began launching mobile service last week, as part of Beijing’s drive to invigorate the stodgy telecoms services sector long dominated by 3 state-run carriers. The launch of VNOs by e-commerce giant JD.com and leading electronics chain Suning (Shenzhen: 002024) both look well-conceived by targeting specific groups of consumers who are both relatively affluent and big users of mobile services. Read Full Post…
After a low-key awarding of licenses last last year, the first batch of new virtual network operator (VNO) mobile carriers are quietly coming into the market this month in a move aimed at shaking up the industry dominated by 3 big state-run telcos. In one of the most anticipated launches, e-commerce giant JD.com has just announced its first mobile packages that show how it plans to compete with the trio of China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL), China Unicom (HKEx: 762; NYSE: CHU) and China Telecom (HKEx: 728; NYSE: CHA). Read Full Post…
China Telecom (HKEx: 728; NYSE: CHA) is quickly becoming a company to watch, with new signals indicating it will soon receive a 4G license for its FDD-LTE technology as it searches for private partners to co-develop new services. These 2 news bits actually come from separate sources, but they collectively show that China Telecom could be poised to gain some market share over its larger and more bureaucratic rivals China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) and China Unicom (HKEx: 762; NYSE: CHU). Regular readers will know that I’m relatively bullish on China Mobile and China Telecom, though I’m far less enthusiastic about the schizophrenic Unicom. Read Full Post…
A controversial new plan could see China’s 3 major wireless carriers pool their resources to form a base station joint venture, marking a rare collaboration just as Beijing is trying to foster more competition in the highly protected industry. While the move appears to have anti-competitive overtones, it would actually represent a smart and much-needed step towards reducing costs that would benefit both the companies and consumers. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on May 3-5. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) Announces Preliminary Q1 Results (PRNewswire)
China Mobile (HKEx: 941) Says In Talks With 2 Rivals For Base Station JV (HKEx announcement)
Just a day after China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) reported some of its worst results in years, new developments in the telecoms space are showing why the nation’s leading telco will face a rough time for the rest of this year and quite possibly well beyond that. According to the latest media reports, China’s telecoms regulator could issue 4G licenses for the main technology being used by China Mobile’s 2 rivals as soon as next month, injecting a major shot of competition into the market. The second telecoms news bit comes in broadband, with reports that the nation’s newly formed national cable TV company has formally registered and will start business soon. Read Full Post…
Leading wireless telco China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) has kicked off the first-quarter earnings season with some numbers that look quite scary, reflecting a sharp slowdown as its home market shows growing signs of saturation. Adding to the problem is the rapid growth of “over the top” (OTT) apps like Tencent’s (HKEx: 700) popular WeChat, which are stealing business from China Mobile’s traditional text messaging service. I commented last month that a recent sell-off in China Mobile shares could represent a good buying opportunity, but clearly these latest results show the company is going through a period of painful readjustment that is likely to last for the rest of this year. Read Full Post…
Rising e-commerce giant JD.com has been all over the blogosphere this past week, trumpeting some major adjustments in its core e-commerce unit as it also prepares to become one of the first companies to challenge China’s 3 major telcos under a new plan to open up that sector. Of course all of this comes against the backdrop of JD.com’s own upcoming New York IPO, which could raise up to $1.5 billion.
If I was being cynical, I might say that much of this buzz is aimed at keeping JD in the headlines as it prepares to list, especially since last week saw early signs that the red-hot New York market for Chinese IPOs may be starting to cool. But in this case, I do think that much of the buzz coming from JD seems genuine and isn’t just hype, as the company tries to position itself to pose a major challenge to e-commerce leader Alibaba. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on April 9. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Jack Ma, Shi Yuzhu Invest 6.5 Bln Yuan In Wasu Media (Shenzhen: 000156) (Chinese article)
China Approves InBev (NYSE: BUD) Purchase Of Siping Ginsber (Chinese article)
Imax (NYSE: IMAX) Sells 20 Pct Of China Business To 2 Partners (Chinese article)
China Mobile (HKEx: 941) VNO Partners Start To Apply For Licenses (Chinese article)
iKang Healthcare (Nasdaq: KANG) Prices IPO At $14, The High End Of Range (English article)
It’s probably too early to declare the death of an ambitious plan to liven up China’s stodgy telecoms services sector through the injection of new private sector competition. But the latest reports that these new competitors, called virtual network operators (VNOs), are facing difficulties due to high prices being charged by their suppliers is just the latest sign that the plan from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) is running into trouble. I’ve been predicting such trouble all along, and these latest reports are raising serious concerns that the new VNOs will never get a serious chance to succeed. Read Full Post…
We’re getting a glimpse of where future priorities may lie for smartphone makers ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063) and TCL Communications (HKEx: 2618; Shenzhen: 000100), with the former hinting at a move into wearable devices and the latter placing big bets on China’s homegrown 4G technology called TD-LTE. ZTE isn’t exactly known for setting new market trends, but I would certainly like its decision to test its luck in wearable devices like wrist watches and glasses sooner rather than later. Meantime, TCL’s TD-LTE gambit looks like a 50-50 bet to me, as this notoriously boom-bust company tries to find a sustainable formula for success. Read Full Post…
