China's telecom industry reports steady expansion in Jan-Nov

BEIJING - China's telecommunications industry logged steady expansion in the first 11 months of this year, with emerging businesses and new infrastructure rapidly growing, official data showed.

The combined business revenue of firms in the sector topped 1.45 trillion yuan ($207.66 billion), up 8 percent year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The total business volume of the sector was 21.4 percent higher year-on-year if calculated at the constant price of last year, said the ministry.

China's three telecom giants -- China Telecom, China Mobile, and China Unicom -- saw their revenue from emerging services, such as internet data centers, big data, cloud computing, and Internet of Things, surge 32.6 percent year-on-year to 281.1 billion yuan.

The sector also reported a steady advance in new infrastructure construction. China's 5G base stations neared 2.29 million by the end of November, 862,000 more than by the end of 2021, accounting for 21.1 percent of all mobile base stations in the country.

By the end of last month, 5G mobile phone users of China's three telecom giants reached 542 million, a net increase of 187 million from the end of last year.