MIIT: In the first eight months, cumulative telecommunications business revenue reached 1.16 trillion yuan, down 2.2% year-on-year.

MIIT data shows that in the first eight months, cumulative telecommunications business revenue reached 1.16 trillion yuan, down 2.2% year-on-year. Calculated at constant prices from the previous year, total telecommunications business volume increased 7.6% year-on-year. In the first eight months, total telecommunications business volume grew steadily, network construction and applications such as 5G and gigabit optical networks continued to advance, the scale of connected users expanded steadily, and mobile internet access traffic maintained relatively rapid growth. The original text is as follows: Communications Industry Economic Performance in the First Eight Months of 2026 In the first eight months, total telecommunications business volume grew steadily, network construction and applications such as 5G and gigabit optical networks continued to advance, the scale of connected users expanded steadily, and mobile internet access traffic maintained relatively rapid growth. I. Overall Operating Conditions In the first eight months, cumulative telecommunications business revenue reached 1.16 trillion yuan, down 2.2% year-on-year. Calculated at constant prices from the previous year, total telecommunications business volume increased 7.6% year-on-year. Figure 1 Cumulative growth rates of telecommunications business revenue and total telecommunications business volume II. Development of Telecommunications Users The scale of fixed broadband access users expanded steadily, and the number of gigabit users continued to increase. As of the end of August, the total number of fixed internet broadband access users of the three basic telecommunications enterprises reached 704 million, a net increase of 13.65 million compared with the end of the previous year. Among them, fixed internet broadband access users with access rates of 100Mbps and above reached 674 million, accounting for 95.6% of total users; fixed internet broadband access users with access rates of 1000Mbps and above reached 263 million, a net increase of 24.27 million compared with the end of the previous year, accounting for 37.3% of total users, with the share increasing by 2.8 percentage points compared with the end of the previous year. The number of mobile phone users increased steadily, and the scale of 5G users continued to expand. As of the end of August, the total number of mobile phone users of the three basic telecommunications enterprises and China Broadcasting Network reached 1.849 billion, a net increase of 22.16 million compared with the end of the previous year. Among them, 5G mobile phone users reached 1.311 billion, a net increase of 107 million compared with the end of the previous year, accounting for 70.9% of mobile phone users. Figure 2 5G Mobile Phone Users Mobile IoT terminal users grew rapidly. As of the end of August, the three basic telecommunications enterprises had developed 3.07 billion mobile IoT terminal users, a net increase of 182 million compared with the end of the previous year. The number of internet television (IPTV, OTT) users reached 408 million, a decrease of 84,000 compared with the end of the previous year. III. Use of Telecommunications Services Cumulative mobile internet access traffic maintained double-digit growth, and the DOU value in August remained at a relatively high level. In the first eight months, cumulative mobile internet access traffic reached 297.1 billion GB, up 17.3% year-on-year. As of the end of August, the number of mobile internet users reached 1.638 billion, a net increase of 28.58 million compared with the end of the previous year. In August, average monthly mobile internet access traffic per household (DOU) reached 23.45 GB/householdmonth, up 12.4% year-on-year, 0.41 GB/householdmonth higher than at the end of the previous year. Telephone call volume continued to decline. In the first eight months, mobile outgoing call duration reached 1.3 trillion minutes, down 6.7% year-on-year; fixed-line originating call duration reached 37.3 billion minutes, down 17.6% year-on-year. In the first eight months, national mobile SMS business volume fell 9.8% year-on-year; mobile SMS business revenue fell 12.4% year-on-year. IV. Communications Capacity Gigabit fiber broadband network construction continued to advance. As of the end of August, the number of internet broadband access ports nationwide reached 1.27 billion, a net increase of 23.22 million compared with the end of the previous year. Among them, fiber-to-the-home/office (FTTH/O) ports reached 1.23 billion, a net increase of 21.16 million compared with the end of the previous year, accounting for 96.7% of internet broadband access ports. As of the end of August, the number of 10G PON ports with gigabit network service capability reached 33.25 million, a net increase of 1.629 million compared with the end of the previous year. 5G base stations accounted for nearly 40%. As of the end of August, the total number of 5G base stations reached 5.195 million, a net increase of 357,000 compared with the end of the previous year, accounting for 39.7% of the total number of mobile base stations, with the share increasing by 0.3 percentage points compared with the first seven months. V. Regional Development The penetration rates of 5G and gigabit users continued to increase in all regions. As of the end of August, the penetration rates of fixed broadband access users with 1000Mbps and above in the eastern, central, western, and northeastern regions were 36.6%, 38%, 38.7%, and 32.8%, respectively, up 2, 4.1, 2.6, and 3.8 percentage points compared with the end of the previous year; the penetration rates of 5G mobile phone users were 70.3%, 71.9%, 71%, and 71.6%, respectively, up 4.8, 5.4, 5.1, and 5.1 percentage points compared with the end of the previous year. Cumulative mobile internet access traffic in all regions maintained relatively rapid growth. In the first eight months, cumulative mobile internet access traffic in the eastern, central, western, and northeastern regions reached 126.4 billion GB, 68.66 billion GB, 84.29 billion GB, and 17.72 billion GB, respectively, up 18.9%, 15.4%, 16.3%, and 17.7% year-on-year. This article is compiled from the official website of the "MIIT", GMTEight editor: Li Fo.