China's telecom sector posts steady revenue growth

BEIJING -- China's telecommunications industry registered steady growth in revenue in the first 11 months of this year, official data shows.

The combined industrial revenue rose 3.5 percent year-on-year to 1.25 trillion yuan (about $191.3 billion) in the January-November period, up 0.2 percentage points from growth in the first 10 months, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Revenue from fixed-line telecommunications across China's three telecom giants -- China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom -- amounted to 427.5 billion yuan during the period, climbing 11.6 percent year-on-year.

By the end of November, China had 1.6 billion mobile phone users, with the number of 4G subscribers edging up 1.3 percent year-on-year to 1.29 billion, the ministry said.

The three telecom companies also saw a steady increase in the number of fixed broadband internet users by the end of November, with subscribers rising 6.9 percent year-on-year to 483 million, a net increase of 33.49 million from the end of last year.