New figures released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology show that mobile data usage in China kept climbing through the first four months of 2026. Total mobile internet traffic reached 142 billion GB from January through April, up 18.5% year over year, while April alone came in at 23.17GB per user per month on average, a 13.5% increase from a year earlier.
By the end of April, the country had 1.624 billion mobile internet users, up by 14.16 million from the end of last year. The data suggests that mobile connectivity remains one of the strongest growth areas in the broader communications sector, even as some traditional services continue to soften.
The same report said China’s communications industry remained broadly stable in the first four months of the year. Total telecom service revenue reached 594.1 billion yuan, down 1.7% year over year, while telecom business volume, measured at constant prices, still increased 8%.
Fixed broadband also kept expanding. The country had 698 million fixed broadband subscribers at the end of April, an increase of 7.271 million from the end of 2025. Of those, 667 million were on plans with speeds of 100Mbps or above, representing 95.5% of the total. Gigabit broadband users reached 253 million, up by 14.25 million so far this year, with that segment now accounting for 36.2% of all fixed broadband subscribers.
On the wireless side, China telecom operators and China Broadnet together had 1.838 billion mobile phone users by the end of April, up 10.92 million from the end of last year. Among them, 5G users reached 1.262 billion after adding 57.58 million users this year, bringing 5G penetration to 68.7% of the mobile subscriber base.
The report also highlighted continued growth in mobile IoT and internet TV services. Mobile IoT terminal users climbed to 2.976 billion, up 87.63 million from the end of last year, while IPTV and OTT internet TV users reached 410 million after a net increase of 1.456 million.
Not every usage metric moved higher. Traditional voice calling continued to decline, with outgoing mobile call duration falling 5.8% year over year to 629.2 billion minutes in the first four months. Fixed-line originating call time dropped 21.5% to 18.22 billion minutes. Mobile SMS volume was down 5.8%, and SMS revenue fell 11.5%.
Infrastructure buildout kept moving forward at the same time. China had 1.27 billion broadband access ports by the end of April, including 1.23 billion fiber-to-the-home or office ports, which made up 96.6% of the total. The number of 10G PON ports capable of delivering gigabit services rose to 32.35 million. Nationally, 5G users were supported by 5.009 million 5G base stations, up 171,000 from the end of last year, with 5G stations now accounting for 38.7% of all mobile base stations.
Regionally, eastern, central, western, and northeastern China all posted strong growth in mobile traffic over the January to April period, with internet usage up 20.1%, 17.2%, 16.7%, and 20.4% respectively. The figures point to a market where high-speed fixed access, 5G adoption, and rising monthly data consumption are all still moving upward together.
