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)

INTERNET – Weibo Blinks As NetEase Shutters Microblog

Bottom line: NetEase’s withdrawal from microblogging represents a broader decline for the overall sector, and is likely to put downward pressure on Weibo shares over the medium to longer term.

NetEase microblog withdrawal looks bad for Weibo

Media reports that web stalwart NetEase (Nasdaq: NTES) will finally shutter its microblogging service don’t come as a big surprise, since it’s been years since anyone has posed a challenge to the dominance of sector leader Weibo (Nasdaq: WB). But what does come as a slight surprise was the reaction to the news in Weibo’s share price. One would normally expect Weibo shares to rally on news of a competitor’s demise, but instead Weibo’s shares actually fell nearly 4 percent in the latest trading session. Read Full Post…

News Digest: November 4, 2014

The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on November 4. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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  • Xiaomi Said To Seek Funding At Valuation Of About $50 Bln (English article)
  • Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU) Reports Q3 Results, Changes at Changyou (Nasdaq: CYOU) (PRNewswire)
  • Lenovo (HKEx: 992) Set To Move Motorola Production To Wuhan (Chinese article)
  • E-cars: Market In Seach Of A Jolt (English article)
  • VNOs To Offer 4G After China Telecom, Unicom Get FDD-LTE Licenses (Chinese article)
  • Latest calendar for Q3 earnings reports (Earnings calendar)

News Digest: October 29, 2014

The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on October 29. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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  • Alibaba’s (NYSE: AAPL) Ma Meets Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) Cook, Talk Cooperation (Chinese article)
  • Xiaomi Becomes World’s Third Largest Smartphone Maker In Q3 – iSuppli (Chinese article)
  • Shanda Games (Nasdaq: GAME) Announces Resignation Of CEO (PRNewswire)
  • Qihoo (NYSE: QIHU), Enlight Media To Launch Premium Video Site – Source (English article)
  • China Telecom (HKEx: 728) Announces Q3 Results (HKEx announcement)
  • Latest calendar for Q3 earnings reports (Earnings calendar)

China Mobile, Alibaba JV Takes Aim At WeChat

Alibaba to revive ailing Fetion

The near-monopoly held by Tencent’s (HKEx: 700) WeChat in China’s mobile messaging space could soon get a fresh shot of competition, with word that e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) was in talks for an alliance to revive China Mobile’s (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) fast-fading Fetion text messaging service. Such a powerful tie-up could take direct aim at the current stranglehold on the market held by WeChat, which now has more than 400 million active users and has become an indispensable communications tool for many. Read Full Post…

News Digest: October 28, 2014

The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on October 28. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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  • Smartisan Cuts Prices By 1,000 Yuan, Smartphones To Start At 1,980 Yuan (Chinese article)
  • China Telecom (HKEx: 728) 4G Coverage To Reach 100 Cities By Next Year (Chinese article)
  • ZTE (HKEx: 763) Mobile Devices Q3 2014 Revenue Up by 40 Pct Year-on-Year (Businesswire)
  • Mobile SNS App ‘Blink’ Completes $20 Mln Series A Funding (English article)
  • Youku (NYSE: YOKU) Looks To US For Videos To Stream To Chinese Users (English article)
  • Latest calendar for Q3 earnings reports (Earnings calendar)

WeChat, OTTs Nip At China Mobile Revenue

China Mobile posts first-ever revenue drop

Leading telco China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) has just released its latest quarterly results that show profits continue to sag by about 10 percent, continuing a theme from the past year. But the figure that’s catching attention in the headlines is the company’s top line revenue, which has fallen for the first time ever in the latest quarter. The revenue drop isn’t all that surprising and comes about a year after China Mobile’s profits first began to decline. But perhaps more worrisome is the prospect that revenue could continue to drop for years until China Mobile finds a way to win back some of the business that is rapidly flowing to third-party service providers like Tencent (HKEx: 700) and a new batch of mobile virtual network operators (VNOs). Read Full Post…

Loyalty Boosts Apple In iPhone 6 Debut

iPhone 6 draws crowds in China launch

Nearly a month after their global launch, Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) latest iPhones are now formally on sale here in China. We’ll no doubt get flooded with numbers about initial sales in the next few days, some of which may be correct but many of which will probably be just guesses. One larger question that’s on everyone’s mind is promotions by the nation’s 3 telcos, as China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL), China Unicom (HKEx: 762; NYSE: CHU) and China Telecom (HKEx: 728; NYSE: CHA), as all come under government pressure to cut back on their aggressive subsidies.

The early news looks relatively good for Apple on that front, with one media report saying the 3 telcos are mostly maintaining their aggressive iPhone subsidies from previous levels. We’ll examine that issue shortly, and whether it even matters much. But first let’s look at the bigger picture that had the iPhone 6 receive a relatively strong reception after it went on sale in China on Friday, 4 weeks after its global debut and 3 weeks after its Asia launch. Read Full Post…

VNO, Number Portability Programs Limp Ahead

China telcos obstruct competition

Two news stories in the telecoms space reflect the obstructionist role that the country’s big 3 telcos often play when it comes to boosting competition in their tightly regulated sector. The first story involves moves by the regulator to revive its sputtering program to juice up the sector with competitive products offered by dozens of recently licensed virtual network operators (VNOs). The second story involves the glacially slow progress in “number portability” — a years-old initiative that would encourage more competition by allowing consumers to keep their old mobile phone numbers when changing carriers. Read Full Post…

iPhone Subsidies Evaporate In Unicom Pre-Orders

Unicom takes iPhone 6 pre-orders

Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) highly anticipated iPhone 6 could face an uphill climb in China when it gets released next week, at least based on the first figures I’ve seen for how much the model will cost. According to the latest reports, China Unicom (HKEx: 762; NYSE: CHU), the nation’s second largest carrier and Apple’s oldest partner in China, will sell the new iPhone 6 for a starting price of 5,288 yuan, or about $860. That would be significantly higher than the price tag of $750 that many believe will be the iPhone 6’s starting price when it goes on sale in the US later this month. Read Full Post…

VNOs Sputter, Squashed By Big 3 Telcos

VNOs hobbled by MIIT rules

People like myself who were holding out big hopes for a new crop of private firms challenging the 3 big state telcos will be disappointed to learn that the group of virtual network operators (VNOs) are off to a glacially slow start, boding poorly for the program. It’s obviously way too early to call the program a failure, since it’s only 3 months since the first private VNOs were launched. To consumers these VNOs look the same and offer similar services to the 3 existing state-run telcos. But the VNOs don’t actually own any telecoms networks, and instead must lease network capacity from the traditional carriers. Read Full Post…

Apple, Samsung Face China Telco Freeze-Out

Telcos to cut spending on Apple, Samsung phones

Cost-cutting pressure is putting a squeeze on China’s 3 big telcos, creating an unusual set of conditions that could claim smartphone giants Samsung (Seoul: 005930) and Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) as victims. The latest signs of trouble for the world’s 2 largest smartphone makers comes in the form of an article in the English language China Daily newspaper, calling on China’s big 3 mobile carriers to stop offering packages with Samsung and Apple smartphones and instead only offer models from domestic manufacturers like Lenovo (HKEx: 992), ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063) and Huawei. Further evidence of the pressure the telcos are feeling comes in an unrelated report, which has the trio denying reports that they’re preparing massive layoffs. Read Full Post…