BEIJING-China Mobile will double its investment in wireless data networks and GPRS this year, but reduce its investment in GSM networks. The forecast was made by CCID Consulting, affiliated with China’s Ministry of Information Industry (MII), at its 2003 China IT Market Forum held in Beijing on 18 February.
China Unicom would also reduce its investment in GSM and concentrate on the CDMA network. CCID Consulting expects the number of Unicom’s CDMA subscribers to increase to 34.4 million in 2004 and 59.7 million in 2005.
The country’s total number of mobile-phone subscribers would grow by 60 million this year to 270 million.
China’s fixed-line and mobile carriers are expected to invest CNY210 billion (US$25.37 billion) this year, slightly down from last year’s CNY210.5 billion (US$25.43 billion). CCID Consulting believes annual investment growth will pick up and exceed 20 percent in the next 5 years.
