China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom released their October 4G customer numbers and all of them showed good growth. China accounted for 23%, 41% and 53% of Apple’s total revenue the past three fiscal years, respectively, so keeping an eye on what is happening in China is critical to estimating Apple’s December quarter results. This is especially important since Apple needs to sell approximately 75 million iPhones to hit its revenue guidance of $75.5 to $77.5 billion and UBS is estimating demand at this level. (Note that I own Apple shares).
China Mobile reported its second best month
China Mobile added 19.7 million 4G users in October which ties the second most new 4G customers in a month, and if it maintains the same pace it would add the most 4G new subscribers of any quarter. The total number of China Mobile 4G users is now 267.3 million or 32.4% of its total 824 million customers. I have developed a Google Doc with monthly information going back to June 2009 available via this link.
China Telecom added 2.3 million 3G & 4G users in October, which matches the highest number of new customers in a month. China Telecom only breaks out its 4G users on a quarterly basis. It added 14.7 million 4G users in the September quarter which means it had 8.9 million fewer 3G customers. If China Telecom maintains the same pace it would add the largest number of 4G customers in a quarter.
China Unicom added 4.0 million 3G & 4G users in October, which is down from the 4.8 to 5.1 million per month the past four months. However, if it can maintain this pace 12 million new 4G users would be the second highest quarter to the September quarter’s 14.7 million new 3G & 4G users.
