China Mobile Communications Corporation (Chinese: 中国移动通信, Hanyu Pinyin: Zhōngguó Yídòng Tōngxìn) (sehk: 0941, nyse: CHL), also known as China Mobile or CMCC, is the largest mobile phone operator in China. It is the world's largest mobile phone operator ranked by number of subscribers, with 415 million customers (as of June 30, 2008). By turnover it is second to Vodafone, which owns 3.3% of China Mobile. China Mobile is also fifth in global brand equity according to BrandZ rankings.

Business

A state-owned enterprise of the People's Republic of China government, it was spun off from former monopoly China Telecom in 1997, and now has a 67.5% share of the competitive mainland Chinese mobile market. China Mobile also owns Paktel in Pakistan, and in May 2008 the company also took over China Tietong, the third largest broadband ISP in China.

China Mobile is the largest company registered in Hong Kong and it is headquartered on Queen's Road. It is also the largest market capital company listed in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, surpassing HSBC.

China Mobile's operations are segmented by province. The parent company owns 100 percent interest in provincial subsidiaries including China Mobile Group Guangdong Company Limited and China Mobile Group Zhejiang. As of December 31, 2006, the Group had an aggregate staff of 111,998 and an aggregate mobile telecommunications subscriber base of over 301.2 million, and enjoyed a market share of approximately 67.5 percent in Mainland China. The Group's GSM global roaming services covered 219 countries and regions and its GPRS roaming services covered 138 countries and regions.

China Mobile's majority shareholder is the state-owned China Mobile (HK) Group Limited, which, as of December 31, 2006, indirectly held an equity interest of approximately 74.57 percent of the Company through a wholly-owned subsidiary, China Mobile Hong Kong (BVI) Limited. The remaining equity interest of approximately 25.43 per cent. of the Company was held by public investors.

In April, 2008, China Mobile started testing of the third generation (3G) of mobile communication in eight cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Qinhuangdao, Shenyang and Xiamen), using the Chinese standard TD-SCDMA (Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access). Very few test results, however, have been available publicly.

On May 23, 2008, the company was reported to have announced its acquisition of China Tietong in the wave of industry consolidation changes..

On 7 January, 2009, China Mobile was awarded TD-SCDMA license to expand its business to 3G telecommunication.

Mainland China

China Mobile's services in Mainland China are stratified according to their target customers.

• GoTone (Chinese: 全球通, Hanyu Pinyin: Quánqiútōng) is the flagship brand. Its postpaid plans are typically sold as bundles of inclusive minutes and services. As its Chinese name implies, GoTone enables international calling and global roaming.
• M-zone is the premium prepaid service, targeting the youth demographic and offering most of GoTone's functionality including mobile internet and voice mail. Its distinguishing characteristics are SMS bundles, music downloads and special offers for students. M-zone is popular among students but its popularity lags behind that of the other two brands in secondary and third-tier cities.
• Easyown (Chinese: 神州行, Hanyu Pinyin: Shénzhōuxíng) is China Mobile's basic prepaid service and the most popular of the three brands. Marketing schemes and price plans vary between regions. In Shanghai, Easyown customers have access to many GoTone services such as voice mail upon payment of additional fees . However, certain value-added features are restricted to GoTone and M-zone customers.