According to exclusive information from informed sources, China Telecom saw four of its provincial branches achieve the most outstanding net growth in Internet of Things (IoT) users in the first 11 months of 2025, with a staggering year-on-year increase exceeding 400%.
These four provincial branches are identified as Ningxia Telecom, Yunnan Telecom, Jiangxi Telecom, and Inner Mongolia Telecom.
One might wonder why these specific four branches experienced the fastest net increase in IoT users; in terms of company development scale, these four are actually among the smaller to medium-sized provincial branches, where a smaller base can naturally facilitate faster growth rates.
Additionally, these provincial branches have placed significant emphasis on the development of IoT.
For instance, Ningxia Telecom has actively promoted the construction of communication infrastructure, achieving extensive coverage of 5G networks and Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) networks, thereby providing fundamental support for the connectivity and data transmission of IoT devices and ensuring the stable operation of IoT applications.
Yunnan Telecom has achieved 100% optical fiber broadband coverage in towns and administrative villages, 100% wireless network coverage in administrative villages, and comprehensive 5G signal coverage in county-level areas and above as well as developed townships, providing essential network guarantees for the widespread connectivity of IoT devices.
Jiangxi Telecom has continuously increased its investment in IoT networks, having activated over 12,800 NB-IoT base stations to achieve comprehensive coverage across Jiangxi Province, while also accelerating the deployment of eMTC networks to provide a stable connectivity foundation for IoT devices.
Inner Mongolia Telecom, on the other hand, has focused its efforts on multiple fronts including network coverage, platform construction, innovation in industry applications, and ecosystem partnerships to drive the deep integration of IoT in sectors such as energy, agriculture, industry, and public welfare.
Liu Huimin, Director of the Communications Business Department at Operator Finance Network, stated that the current revenue scale of China Telecom's IoT business is only several billion yuan, which is not particularly large compared to other government and enterprise services; currently, about half of the provincial branches are still experiencing negative growth in IoT users, indicating that achieving growth is indeed challenging.
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