China Mobile's subscriber base touches 407 mn

China Telecom, a leading fixed-line operator, suffered a net subscriber loss of 820,000 in May. This was the 10th consecutive month of net subscriber loss for the company, monthly industrial figures showed.     

By the end of May, China Telecom's subscriber base stood at 215 million, official Xinhua news agency said quoting the figures.     

China recently undertook an exercise to restructure its telecom sector, involving the country's top five telecom firms, all state owned, including mobile operators China Mobile and China Unicom and fixed line service operators China Tietong, China Telecom and China Netcom.     

Under the scheme, the firms would be restructured into three groups, each able to provide both mobile and fixed line services.     

It is widely speculated that China would issue three licences for its third generation mobile phone technology (3G) following the telecom reshuffle.