Shares of Chinese telecom firms rise amid growth, emphasis of digital economy

The combined market capitalization of China's three major telecom operators has added 980 billion yuan ($142.59 billion) year-to-date at the Chinese mainland stock markets, according to news portal cls.cn on Monday, as the nation further pushes the development of digital infrastructure.

China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom - the three state-owned telecom giants - are among the biggest winners in the bull run since beginning of this year.

China Telecom has seen its shares rising 73 percent year-to-date, making it the biggest gainer for heavyweight stocks whose market cap surpassed 100 billion yuan at the A share market.

The gain by China Telecom was followed by China Mobile's 45 percent surge and China Unicom's 35 percent hike, according to cls.cn, poring data.

Along with the share price rise, the three giants' combined market capitalization has gained by 980 billion yuan since January 1.

China Mobile saw its share prices rocketing to the daily limit of 10 percent to 98.34 yuan per share on Monday, pushing its market capitalization to 2.1 trillion yuan, and closing in with Chinese liquor brand Kweichow Moutai, which has been sitting on the title of the most valuable share at the Chinese A share market for years with a market value at 2.21 trillion yuan.

Experts noted that the rise of shares of China's giant telecom operators came on the tail wind of China's fast-growing digital economy.

China's digital economy has achieved fast growth and demonstrated great resilience despite the COVID-19 epidemic. In 2021, the scale of China's digital economy totaled 45.5 trillion yuan, accounting for 39.8 percent of the national economy and almost doubling the 22.6 trillion yuan seen in 2016, according to an industry report by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.

According to a blueprint and timeline for the construction of a "digital China"through strengthening 5G and computing, released in late February, the digital infrastructure will be efficiently connected through a broad range of sectors, China will become a global leader in digital innovations by 2025 and the level of digital development in China will enter the forefront of the world by 2035.

Telecom operators have a pivotal role to play in China's digital infrastructure rollout, experts said.

In 2022, China rolled out 887,000 new 5G base stations, and the total number of 5G stations has reached 2.312 million today, accounting for more than 60 percent of the world's total, data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed.

On March 1, Jin Zhuanglong, minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said China will formulate an industry development plan to promote research and innovation of 6G mobile technologies, sending a clear message of the nation's determination to lead the trend of the cutting-edge technology.

This year's Government Work Report said that China will strive to develop the digital economy, in a more affirmative tone than "encouraging the development of digital economy" in the text of 2022 version.