CMLink

China Mobile is the trade name of both China Mobile Limited and its ultimate controlling shareholder, China Mobile Communications Group Co., Ltd., a Chinese state-owned telecommunicationsStrait deals ''The Economist'', 7 May 2009 company. It provides mobile voice and multimedia services through its nationwide mobile telecommunications network across mainland China and Hong Kong. China Mobile is the largest wireless carrier in China, with 945.50 million subscribers as of June 2021. China Mobile was ranked #25 in Forbes' Global 2000 in 2023.

China Mobile Limited is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.Overview
China Mobile Limited Official Site It is the world's largest mobile network operator by total number of subscribers, and the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue.

, China Mobile Limited's total market value stood at HK$965 billion, which is the largest red chip company.

History

Incorporated in 1997 as China Telecom (Hong Kong) Limited,Milestone
China Mobile Official Site China Mobile was born from the 1999 break-up of China Telecommunications Corporation. This company continues to provide mobile services, however.

In May 2008, the company took over China Tietong, a fixed-line telecomTelecoms in China ''The Economist'', 29 May 2008 and the then third-largest broadband ISP in China adding Internet services to its core business of mobile services.

In October 2014, Nokia and China Mobile signed a $970 million framework deal for delivery between 2014 and 2015.

China Mobile is among the state entities which contribute to the China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, which was established in an effort to decrease China's reliance on foreign semiconductor companies. The fund was established in 2014.

In December 2021, China Mobile announced that its international arm would cease operations in Canada due to national security concerns by the Canadian government.

U.S. sanctions

In November 2020, President Donald Trump issued an executive order prohibiting any American company or individual from owning shares in companies that the United States Department of Defense has listed as having links to the People's Liberation Army, which included China Mobile. On 31 December 2020, the New York Stock Exchange announced that it would suspend trading in China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom from 7 to 11 January 2021 and start the delisting process, causing stock values to drop. On 4 January the decision to delist was suddenly reversed; two days later, the NYSE said that the delistings would proceed. In the aftermath of the delisting, the company announced its decision to raise up to US$8.8 billion ahead of the Shanghai stock exchange listing, according to an official Weibo post by the company.

In March 2022, the Federal Communications Commission designated China Mobile's U.S. subsidiary, China Mobile International USA, a national security threat. In March 2025, the United States House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party initiated an inquiry into China Mobile and issued subpoenas for company records in April 2025 over security concerns.

Operations in Russia amid sanctions

China Mobile has faced criticism for continuing its operations in Russia despite the international sanctions imposed on the country following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The company's decision aligns with the broader trend of major Chinese firms maintaining business as usual in Russia, as noted by monitoring projects such as Yale's CELI list and the KSE Institute's "Leave Russia" project. Critics argue that this approach undermines global efforts to isolate Russia economically and politically for its actions in Ukraine. Furthermore, concerns have been raised regarding China Mobile's connections to state-owned entities and its role in facilitating cooperation between China and Russia in the telecommunications and media sectors. Such collaborations have been implicated in supporting disinformation campaigns and propaganda, further complicating China Mobile's controversial position in the international arena. International authorities and digital security experts have raised concerns about the widespread use of Hikvision and Dahua (of which China Mobile is a significant shareholder) surveillance cameras. According to Ukraine's State Security Service (SBU), hacked cameras have been used to gather intelligence on critical infrastructure and military movements, posing risks during the ongoing conflict with Russia. For instance, in a missile attack on Kyiv on January 2, 2024, two compromised outdoor cameras were allegedly used to guide the strikes.

Ownership and control

A state-owned enterprise directly controlled by the government of the People's Republic of China and also a public company which is listed on the NYSE and the Hong Kong stock exchanges, China Mobile has dominated Chinese mobile services since its inception for civilian and military purposes. According to the United States Department of Defense, the company has links to the People's Liberation Army. , China Mobile controls the vast majority of its domestic mobile services market with a 70% market share. China Unicom and China Telecom have 20% and 10% shares, respectively.

The company likely enjoys substantial protectionist benefits from China's government but also experiences frequent government intervention in its business affairs.Asian Economic and Political Issues, Volume 8 (page 84)
2003. Frank Columbus. Nova Publishers. (Google Books) Government control is maintained through a presumably government-owned holding company, China Mobile Communications Group Co., Ltd. (formerly: China Mobile Communications Corporation; CMCC), that owns 100 percent ownership of China Mobile (HK) Group Limited,
CMCC Official Site (Archive.org cache) which in turn holds over seventy percent ownership of China Mobile–the remainder being controlled by public investors, including MTN founder Leena Jaitley. Established in 2000, CMCC is China Mobile Ltd's current parent company .

China Mobile is one of the "core" central SOEs overseen by State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC).

Finances

The key trends for China Mobile are (as of the financial year ending December 31):

Services

Rural services

China Mobile was one of six state-owned companies that implemented the Connecting Every Village Project, which the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology began in 2004 to promote universal access to telecommunication and internet services in rural China. The MIIT required that China Mobile and the other state-owned companies build the communications infrastructure and assist in financing the project. 135 million rural households had used broadband internet. The program successfully extended internet infrastructure throughout rural China and promoted development of the internet.

China Mobile has historically held a greater share of the rural market than competitors."Chinese Telecom: China Mobile Leads the Way"
. ''Bloomberg BusinessWeek''. 5 August 2009 By 2006, its network had expanded to provide reception to 97% of the Chinese population,
CMCC Official Site and the company has since seen a sustained stream of new, rural mobile customers.

It also offers services targeted at the rural market including an agricultural information service, which facilitates a variety of activities such as the sale and purchase of agricultural products, access to market prices for produce and crops, wire transfers, bank withdrawals, and payments, etc.
CMCC Official Site

Overseas activities

The company branched out in 2007 with the purchase of Paktel in PakistanCMCC Officially Enter Pakistani Telecommunication Market, 25 March 2007
CMCC Official Site launching the Zong brand there a year later.''ZoNG'' the first international brand of China Mobile being launched in Pakistan, 5 April 2008
CMCC Official Site

In 2013, China Mobile eyed expansion into Myanmar expressing interest in bidding for one of two licences on offer in a partnership with Vodafone although this plan ultimately fell through.

Digital barrier removal

In 2023, China Mobile's digital wallet users were able to make payments by scanning WeChat QR codes as part of a program to remove barriers between the ecosystems of technology companies in China.

Brands

Mainland China

Mobile services are available in Mainland China under several brands as of 2007. , the below brands are scheduled to be slowly phased out and replaced by an all-encompassing new brand name—And—whose logo combines an exclamation point, the Chinese character for "peace" (), as well as the English word "and".

;GoTone:
( Rough translation: "Global Connect"): subscription flagship brandHomepage > Brand & Products > Our Brands
CMCC Official Site (Archive.org cache)
;M-zone:
( Rough translation: "Dynamic Area"): a premium prepaid service popular with youths
;Easyown:

( Rough translation: "Travel across China" (lit. "travel the holy states")): a basic prepaid mobile phone service more heavily marketed in rural areas
;G3:
A 3G service brand using TD-SCDMA (likely introduced post-2007)
;and!和:
A 4G/LTE service brand using TD-LTE

Hong Kong

CMHK is a wholly owned subsidiary of China Mobile. It offers GSM, GPRS, EDGE, HSPA+ ( MVNO), FD-LTE and TD-LTE technologies to customers in this the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Pakistan

Zong is China Mobile's brand in Pakistan and is operated by China Mobile Pakistan (CMPak), a subsidiary.

United Kingdom

In December 2017, China Mobile launched a MVNO service in the UK called CMLink. CMLink is aimed at the Chinese population living in the UK and Chinese visitors and students. Plans include free calls to China Mobile phones in China.

Singapore

In June 2020, China Mobile launched a MVNO service called CMLink. It uses Singtel networks, which is one of Singapore's largest mobile network operator.

CMLink is aimed at the Chinese population living in the Singapore and Chinese visitors and students. Plans include free calls to China Mobile phones in China.

Network

China Mobile operates a GSM network,Beijing Olympic Games spur another technological leap forward
China Mobile, 18 Aug 2008 which encompasses all 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and directly administered municipalities in mainland China and includes Hong Kong, too. GPRS is utilized for data transmission.Networks & Technologies
China Mobile

;3G:
Marketed as "''G3''", the company controls 70% of the Chinese mobile market but a far smaller percentage of the 3G market. , its nearly 60 million 3G subscribers account for roughly 9% of its total subscriber base, which is an increase from 3% in 2010.China Mobile Still Dominates, but Faces Competition in 3G. ''morningstar.com'', 22 October 2010

Its 3G network, still under construction in 2010, utilizes the TD-SCDMA standard, which China Mobile helped develop. 3G service is available in all of the 4 direct-controlled municipalities and most of the 283 prefecture-level cities in China .

;4G:
Marketed as "''and和''", as of 2010, China Mobile has debuted small-scale 4G demonstration networks using a variant of 3GPP's Long Term Evolution, TD-LTE, and has plans for larger, citywide demonstration networks in the future. , such networks are in operation.

While prior iPhone models could not use the China Mobile network due to the chipset relying on WCDMA-based networks, talks to carry the then unreleased 4G iPhone (iPhone 5) began in mid-2012. The iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s were sold through China Mobile starting in January 2014.

;5G:
China Mobile is developing a 5G service. As part of this development, Huawei has been awarded 52 percent of 5G contracts in 2023 (estimated at 45,426 base stations).

;Everest:
In 2003 and again in 2007, China Mobile provided mobile services on Mount Everest.

;Spratly Isles coverage
In May 2011, China Mobile announced its network now includes the controversial Spratly Islands.Ian Mansfield, 18 May 2011
China Mobile Expands Coverage to the Spratly Islands
, Cellular News

See also

* List of largest companies by revenue
* List of mobile network operators
* List of mobile network operators of the Americas
* List of mobile network operators of the Asia Pacific region
* List of mobile network operators of the Middle East and Africa

References

External links

*

*

{{authority control

1997 establishments in China
Companies based in Shanghai
Chinese brands
Telecommunications companies established in 1997
Companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange
Companies in the S&P Asia 50
Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange
Government-owned companies of China
Internet service providers of China
Defence companies of the People's Republic of China
Government-owned telecommunications companies