For the latest news on U.S.- and Hong Kong-traded Chinese stocks, visit our new Bamboo Works site.
Tag Archives: China Telecom
China Telecom latest Business & Financial news from Doug Young, the Expert on Chinese High Tech Market, (former Journalist and Chief editor at Reuters)
Following signs earlier this year that they were resisting a call to end to domestic roaming fees, China’s big 3 wireless carriers are finally reversing course and bowing to pressure from the telecoms regulator to follow a practice already common in much of the world. But leading telco China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) is taking its time making the transition, saying it will gradually phase out such fees over the next 2 years. Smaller rival China Telecom (HKEx: 728; NYSE: CHA) appears to be moving more quickly, while the perpetually befuddled China Unicom (HKEx: 762; NYSE: CHU) has yet to state its policy on the issue. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: China Mobile’s strong profit growth shows the company has executed well on its 4G strategy, including strong promotion of data services that have rapidly become its single largest revenue source.
China Mobile notches strong Q2 profit growth
After a bumpy period over the last 2 years as it rolled out its new 4G network, leading wireless carrier China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) is finally reaping strong results from its efforts with some of the best profit growth I’ve seen in a long time. The company has just reported its interim results, which show that its profit jumped an impressive 9.2 percent in the second quarter, as it took advantage of its early entry to 4G to consolidate its place as the nation’s leading telco. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: China Telecom’s sale of its online video business looks like an exit from the space under its new chairman, while Wanda’s purchase of an online movie site could mark the start of a major new round of investment in online video.
China Telecom sells TV189 online video unit
Just days after search giant Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) abandoned plans to spin off its iQiyi video unit, 2 more online video headlines are reflecting the rapid changes taking place in the space. The larger will see China Telecom (HKEx: 728; NYSE: CHA), the smallest of China’s 3 telcos, sell its online video unit TV189 to a hotel operator called Besttone Holdings (Shanghai: 600640) for 3.9 billion yuan ($580 million). The smaller will see the fast-growing Wanda Group buy the online movie site Mtime for $280 million. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on July 30-August 1. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
══════════════════════════════════════════════
Giant Interactive, Alibaba’s (NYSE: BABA) Jack Ma to Pay $4.4 Bln for Game Firm Playtika (Chinese article)
China Postal Bank’s $10 Bln IPO Stirs Foreign Interest, But Valuation a Worry (English article)
Besttone Holdings to Pay 6.9 Bln Yuan for China Telecom (HKEx: 728) Online Video Assets (Chinese article)
Meituan-Dianping Roll Out New Food and Beverage Platform (Chinese article)
Fosun (HKEx: 656) to Buy Brazilian Real Estate Management Fund Rio Bravo (Chinese article)
Bottom line: China Telecom’s cancellation of roaming fees and focus on the Internet of Things signal it wants to become a leader and aggressively roll out new services under its new chairman Yang Jie.
China Telecom to end roaming fees
Just days after receiving a vote of confidence by a major global investor, China’s smallest mobile carrier China Telecom(HKEx: 728; NYSE: CHL) is showing new signs of life that make it look a potential company to watch among the nation’s stodgy big 3 teclos. Those signs are coming in one of the first major speeches from China Telecom’s new chief, who says the telco will become China’s first to eliminate domestic roaming fees, a move that was long overdue but has been strongly resisted by the sector. At the same time, Yang Jie is saying China Telecom will place strong emphasis on Internet of Things services, which many believe are the wave of the future. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: GIC’s investment in China Telecom represents a vote of confidence in the company over the next 2 years, as it makes strong gains in 4G and data services and could become more aggressive under new leadership.
GIC bets on China Telecom
China’s smallest wireless carrier China Telecom(HKEx: 728; NYSE: CHA) has just received a vote of confidence from one of the world’s better-known global investors, with the new disclosure that Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC has purchased 5 percent of the telco’s Hong Kong-listed shares. That decision comes amid mixed signals coming from China Telecom, which has just received new leadership after its former chairman was booted out for corruption. On a more positive note, China Telecom has been posting strong growth in its year-old 4G business, though the foundation for that growth was largely laid by yet another previous leader who left the company about a year ago. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on July 14. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
══════════════════════════════════════════════
Singapore’s GIC Buys 5 Pct of China Telecom’s (HKEx: 728) H-Shares (HKEx announcement)
Inspur, Ericsson (Stockholm: ERICb) Form Tie-Up in Cloud, Internet of Things (Chinese article)
Yum (NYSE: YUM) Shares Rise After CEO Signals China Momentum (English article)
Wanda to Bring First International Soccer Tournament to China (company announcement)
Tishman Teams With Lenovo (HKEx: 992) on South China Real Estate Development (English article)
Bottom line: Telefonica is likely to finalize its divorce with Unicom in the next 2 years, following the latest halving of its holdings in its Chinese partner to 1 percent as part of a sell-down of non-core assets.
Telefonica dumps more Unicom shares
For some reason that’s not completely clear to me, Spanish telco Telefonica (Madrid: TELF) doesn’t want to admit that its decade-long marriage with China Unicom (HKEx: 763; NYSE: CHU) was a dud and is headed for divorce. That’s my latest assessment, following reports that the Spanish carrier has further sold down its stake in its Chinese partner, leaving it with a miniscule 1 percent of Unicom’s shares. This particular sale was probably driven mostly by a need for cash. But I really don’t understand why Telefonica didn’t just completely dump the rest of its shares and finally end this marriage that never produced anything useful for either side. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: China Telecom could become less aggressive in 4G this year under its new leadership, while China Mobile remains the investor best bet among China’s 3 carriers due to early entry to 4G.
China Telecom zooms in 4G
It’s been a long time since I’ve looked at the bigger China telecoms landscape for total subscribers and 4G service, so the release of the latest monthly data from the nation’s 3 major carriers seems like a good opportunity to assess the situation. Not surprisingly, all 3 have posted anemic overall subscriber growth since the start of the year due to an increasingly saturated market. But a look at 4G shows a more diverse picture, with China Telecom (HKEx: 728; NYSE: CHA) acting far more aggressively than rival China Unicom (HKEx: 762; NYSE: CHU) in the quest for new subscribers. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: China Mobile’s retirement of its Internet-based texting and video services reflect its inability to compete with private providers of such services, and underscores its growing position as a slow-growth network operator.
China Mobile shutters Internet text, video services
In a move that was long overdue, leading wireless carrier China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) has thrown up the white flag with a symbolic surrender to WeChat, Youku and the many other private companies that have steadily stolen its new business opportunities. In this case the surrender comes in the form of formal retirements for China Mobile’s Internet-based Fetion texting service, and also its lesser known mobile video product.
Fetion was once hugely popular in China, allowing users to send SMS text messages for free by routing them over the Internet. China Mobile was an early innovator in creating that kind of “over the top” (OTT) service that took advantage of the mobile Internet. But more recently it has rapidly lost that position to more nimble private companies like Tencent (HKEx: 700) and Youku. Read Full Post…
Some 4 years after disappearing from the headlines, a fourth telecoms carrier formed from China’s numerous regional cable TV companies is finally making a formal debut with its receipt of an official license to offer telecoms services. That means the new company, China Broadcasting Network Co (CBN), could theoretically shake up China’s laggard telecoms services industry that has been monopolized for years by the trio of state-run giants, China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL), China Unicom (HKEx: 762; NYSE: CHU) and China Telecom (HKEx: 728; NYSE: CHA).
But anyone hoping for big change shouldn’t get too excited, since CBN is cut from the same cloth as the existing 3 state-run telcos. What’s more, the new company is likely to be plagued with internal power struggles, at least initially, since it was created from a patchwork of provincial cable TV companies whose former stakeholders may still try to exert some influence. Read Full Post…
