China Mobile

U.S. sanctions

In November 2020, President Donald Trump issued an executive order prohibiting any American company or individual from owning shares in companies that the United States Department of Defense has listed as having links to the People's Liberation Army, which included China Mobile.[17][18][19] On 31 December 2020, the New York Stock Exchange announced that it would suspend trading in China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom from 7 to 11 January 2021 and start the delisting process, causing stock values to drop.[20] On 4 January the decision to delist was suddenly reversed; two days later, the NYSE said that the delistings would proceed.[21] In the aftermath of the delisting, the company announced its decision to raise up to US$8.8 billion ahead of the Shanghai stock exchange listing, according to an official Weibo post by the company.[22]

In March 2022, the Federal Communications Commission designated China Mobile's U.S. subsidiary, China Mobile International USA, a national security threat.[23] In March 2025, the United States House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party initiated an inquiry into China Mobile and issued subpoenas for company records in April 2025 over security concerns.[24][25] In June 2025, the FCC stated that China Mobile had failed to cooperate with its probe to determine whether it had evaded sanctions.[26]

Operations in Russia

China Mobile has, like other major Chinese firms, maintained business in Russia amid the ongoing international sanctions during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[27][28][29] It is also alleged to have supported Russian propaganda during the invasion.[30]

According to Ukraine's State Security Service (SBU), Hikvision and Dahua (of which China Mobile is a shareholder) hacked surveillance cameras have been used to gather intelligence on critical infrastructure and military movements such as during the 2 January 2024 Russian strikes in Kyiv, where two compromised outdoor cameras are said to have been used to guide the strikes.[31]

Rural services

China Mobile was one of six state-owned companies that implemented the Connecting Every Village Project, which the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology began in 2004 to promote universal access to telecommunication and internet services in rural China.[39] The MIIT required that China Mobile and the other state-owned companies build the communications infrastructure and assist in financing the project.[39] As of, 135 million rural households had used broadband internet.[39] The program successfully extended internet infrastructure throughout rural China and promoted development of the internet.[39]

China Mobile has historically held a greater share of the rural market than competitors.[40] By 2006, its network had expanded to provide reception to 97% of the Chinese population,[41] and the company has since seen a sustained stream of new, rural mobile customers.[40]

It also offers services targeted at the rural market including an agricultural information service, which facilitates a variety of activities such as the sale and purchase of agricultural products, access to market prices for produce and crops, wire transfers, bank withdrawals, and payments, etc.[42]

Overseas activities

The company branched out in 2007 with the purchase of Paktel in Pakistan[43] launching the Zong brand there a year later.[44] In 2013, China Mobile eyed expansion into Myanmar expressing interest in bidding for one of two licences on offer in a partnership with Vodafone although this plan ultimately fell through.[45]

Digital barrier removal

In 2023, China Mobile's digital wallet users were able to make payments by scanning WeChat QR codes as part of a program to remove barriers between the ecosystems of technology companies in China.[46]

Qianliyan

In 2020, China Mobile launched its Qianliyan ("Clairvoyance" or literally, "thousand-mile eyes") smart video products.[47] This line includes networked cameras and a cloud platform to provide remote viewing, video storage, and analytics.[47] With offerings geared towards private consumers and institutional users, the Qianliyan product line includes products like "Peaceful Village" (video monitoring geared towards rural roads, homes, farms, and fields), "Online Baby" (child monitoring), and "Bright Kitchen, Shining Stove" (food quality and safety monitoring).[47]

Mainland China

Mobile services are available in Mainland China under several brands as of 2007.[48] As of 2013, the below brands are scheduled to be slowly phased out and replaced by an all-encompassing new brand name—And[49]—whose logo combines an exclamation point, the Chinese character for "peace", as well as the English word "and". ( Rough translation: "Global Connect"): subscription[50] flagship brand[51] ( Rough translation: "Dynamic Area"): a premium prepaid service popular with youths[51] ( Rough translation: "Travel across China"[50] (lit. "travel the holy states")): a basic prepaid mobile phone service more heavily marketed in rural areas[41] A 3G service brand using TD-SCDMA[52] (likely introduced post-2007) A 4G/LTE service brand using TD-LTE

• GoTone:

• M-zone:

• Easyown:

• G3:

• and!和:

Hong Kong

CMHK is a wholly owned subsidiary of China Mobile. It offers GSM, GPRS, EDGE, HSPA+ (MVNO), FD-LTE and TD-LTE technologies to customers in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.[53]

Pakistan

Zong is China Mobile's brand in Pakistan and is operated by China Mobile Pakistan (CMPak), a subsidiary.[44]

United Kingdom

In December 2017, China Mobile launched a MVNO service in the UK called CMLink. CMLink is aimed at the Chinese population living in the UK and Chinese visitors and students. Plans include free calls to China Mobile phones in China.[54]

Singapore

In June 2020, China Mobile launched a MVNO service called CMLink. It uses Singtel networks, which is one of Singapore's largest mobile network operator.

CMLink is aimed at the Chinese population living in the Singapore and Chinese visitors and students. Plans include free calls to China Mobile phones in China.[54]