Telecommunications Industry Newsletter

The Report

"China Telecom Industry Newsletter" is released by Deloitte China Telecommunications industry core team. This report aims to provide senior management and industry experts with insights. It monitors the latest industry trends, probes into hot topics, latest policies and regulations in Telecom industry, deeply explores current challenges and opportunities, and thus delivers professional suggestions to players in this industry.

Viewpoints / key findings

The following are covered in this report including recent development, hot topics and interpretations on the latest policies and regulations, as well as opportunities and challenges in the industry:

1. Analysis of operating and financial data of the top three telecom operators in China

• In the first three quarters of 2017, the top three telecom operators have achieved revenue of 962.4 billion with a year-on-year growth of six percent. Influenced by the change of consumer habits, almost all the telecom operators have established operation strategies to enhance the role of internet+ and user traffic operation, and furthermore, aggressively explore internet of things (IoT), cloud computing, big data and other new businesses to further enhance service capabilities. 
• Under the guidance of "Broadband China" policy, the top three operators were increasingly developing broadband infrastructure in 2017, and engaging effort to build "optical network city" through the implementation of "optical progress and copper retreat". From January to September in 2017, 5.64 million kilometers of new fiber optic cables have been built across the country, making total length reach 36.06 million kilometers with a year-on-year growth of twenty-five percent.

2. The development of smartphones

• Smartphones heavily outweigh other electronic products in regards of consumption intention, which enables smartphones to remain dominant among all the digital devices.
• Regarding mobile phones sales, online stores and offline stores have been keeping back-and-forth relationship in recent two years. Online channels are experiencing slower growth while offline channels showing revival.
• Frequency of mobile phone replacement remains high, about sixty-six percent consumers would like to replace their mobile phones within the next year.
  
  

3. Digitalization – new dynamics for enterprise risk management

• The four factors of interconnection, digital technology, customer experience innovation and data insights have become indispensable keys in the process of digital transformation.
• Enterprises should attach more importance to digitalization risks when proceeding on digital transformation.
• For company management, digitalization risks management should be a sustainable development issue with comprehensive and clear planning. 

4. Updated financial reporting, regulatory related issues and tax policies

5. Tax issues