China Telecom Corporation Limited (China Telecom) recently released its 2024 annual performance report, announcing a full-year operating revenue of 523.6 billion yuan ($72.11 billion), marking a 3.1 percent increase year-on-year.
Among them, service revenue reached 482 billion yuan, up 3.7 percent from the previous year. Emerging businesses saw notable growth, with Tianyi Cloud revenue reaching 113.9 billion yuan. Additionally, revenue from artificial intelligence (AI) and intelligent computing services surged by 195.7 percent year-on-year. Most strikingly, quantum business revenue increased by 238.7 percent year-on-year, and satellite communication revenue grew by 71.2 percent, with direct-to-cell satellite users surpassing 2.4 million.
Stable growth in core business segments
In 2024, China Telecom’s mobile communication service revenue reached 202.5 billion yuan, an increase of 3.5 percent year-on-year. Fixed-line and smart home services generated 125.7 billion yuan, reflecting a growth of 2.1 percent year-on-year, with smart home service revenue increasing by 16.8 percent.
Industrial digitalization revenue climbed to 146.6 billion yuan, growing by 5.5 percent year-on-year and contributing 30.4 percent to total service revenue. Tianyi Cloud revenue rose by 17.1 percent to 113.9 billion yuan, while intelligent services revenue surged by 195.7 percent to 8.9 billion yuan, and video network services revenue grew by 40.1 percent.
Enhancing network infrastructure and international connectivity
China Telecom continued deepening its co-building and sharing partnership with China United Network Communications Group Co., Ltd., bringing the total number of mid- and high-frequency 5G base stations to 1.375 million.
To strengthen space-ground integrated information networks, China Telecom actively promoted the development of a collaborative satellite mobile communication system, which spans high, medium and low orbits.
The company expanded its global network capabilities, launching new international gateways in Kunming and Haikou and establishing key transit routes along the Belt and Road Initiative.
Advancing smart cloud and AI development
Tianyi Cloud has entered a new phase of intelligent cloud development. The "Xirang" integrated intelligent computing service platform provides advanced network scheduling, one-stop AI services and secure, flexible AI model services. It has successfully optimized mainstream AI computing chips and DeepSeek-R1/V3 large models, making China Telecom the first domestic carrier-grade cloud platform to implement full-stack localized inference services for DeepSeek models.
The company built a large-scale AI training dataset of over 90,000 tokens and developed the Xingchen multimodal foundational AI model, integrating semantic, speech and visual capabilities with open-source options in multiple model sizes. It has launched over 50 industry-specific AI models and more than 10 standardized AI products, serving over 10,000 enterprises.
Driving digital consumption development
For individual and household consumers, China Telecom has continued integrating AI, quantum, and satellite technologies into its product and service offerings. In 2024, the company saw steady growth in converged service subscribers, with ARPU for mobile and broadband services remaining stable. AI-driven applications, quantum-encrypted messaging, and direct-to-cell satellite services also experienced rising adoption rates.
For enterprises, China Telecom has adopted an integrated service approach combining computing power, platform services, data assets, AI models and application support, upgrading digital platform capabilities across multiple industries. Over 100 digital platforms now support various sectors, and the upgraded 5G NICES Pro+ system has facilitated 45,000 digital application projects in fields such as power, chemicals and mining.
China Telecom has also expanded its global business market, generating 16.9 billion yuan in international revenue in 2024, a 15.4 percent year-on-year increase.
(Executive editor: Wang Ruoting)
