China has officially added a fourth mobile operator to its market as China Broadnet begins offering services nationwide.
Originally created in 2020 as China Broadcasting Network (CBN), the company had not launched commercial services until now. Earlier this month it rebranded to China Broadnet and started accepting advance reservations for phone numbers, signaling the start of its consumer rollout.
Customers reserving preferred numbers were required to pay an upfront reservation fee that in some cases reached several thousand yuan (CNY 1,000 ≈ US$150). Reservations also carried a commitment to a minimum monthly charge and a two-year contract term.
China Broadnet holds 80 MHz of spectrum in the 700 MHz band and 100 MHz in the 4.9 GHz band. With limited 5G base stations of its own at launch, the company will initially rely on a cooperation agreement with China Mobile to build out nationwide coverage.
Under the arrangement, the two operators will jointly fund and deploy infrastructure in the 700 MHz band. China Broadnet will also be able to access China Mobile’s 2.6 GHz network on a paid, wholesale basis and make use of existing 2G, 4G, and 5G infrastructure. For China Mobile, sharing the lower-frequency 700 MHz spectrum offers an opportunity to extend coverage—especially in rural areas—using fewer base stations than higher-frequency deployments require.
Chinese authorities have encouraged such partnerships to accelerate the rollout of new mobile services and expand network reach more efficiently.
China Broadnet is the only operator in China authorized by the government to provide a combination of mobile services, fixed broadband, cable TV, and public safety communications.
Its five largest shareholders include China Broadcasting Network Corporation, State Grid Information & Telecommunication, Alibaba Venture Capital Management, Guangdong Radio Television Network, and Beijing All Media and Culture.
China Mobile remains the world’s largest mobile operator and leads domestically, with roughly 495.1 million customers subscribed to 5G plans. China Telecom and China Unicom follow with about 224.5 million and 170.7 million 5G subscribers respectively.
Although China Broadnet faces a significant challenge to catch up with these established players, its partnership with China Mobile gives it a practical path to rapidly expand coverage and service availability across the country.
(Photo by David Pisnoy on Unsplash)
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