China’s Unicom will accept digital yuan payment for phone bills

• China’s No. 3 telecoms operator has begun taking digital yuan payment for phone bills on its app, the latest big company to support the country’s budding central bank digital currency (CBDC) efforts.

• After raising 48.7 billion yuan ($7.7 billion) in China’s largest public share offering in a decade, China Mobile Ltd will begin trading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

• The government has more than 140  million digital yuan wallets in circulation and profits from selling will be used to create a premium 5G network.

Since 2014, China has been creating the digital yuan, the most modern CBDC issued by a major international power.

China’s No. 3 telecoms operator has begun taking digital yuan payment for phone bills on its app, becoming the latest big company to support the country’s budding central bank digital currency (CBDC) efforts. Since earlier this week, China Unicom customers have been able to use digital yuan, also known as e-CNY, to make payments using the company’s app.

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China Mobile’s Shanghai debut will be widely observed, since a growing number of businesses, including BeiGene Ltd, have dropped below their offering pricing on their first day in China.

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China Unicom, the telecom giant

China Unicom, one of the country’s three state-owned telecommunications companies, has 306 million customers. According to an exchange release, China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile network operator in terms of total customers, sold 845.7 million shares in Shanghai on Tuesday for 57.58 yuan ($9.06) apiece.

According to recent reports, if the over option is fully exercised, the size of China Mobile’s share sale will be increased to 56 billion yuan, making the public offering China’s fifth-largest on record.

China Telecom and China Unicom, China Mobile’s smaller state-owned rivals, are already publicly listed in China.

The three were delisted from the New York Stock Exchange following a Trump-era move to restrict investment in Chinese technology businesses, despite continuing tensions between Washington and Beijing.

The profits will be utilized in initiatives such as premium 5G networks

Three state-owned businesses dominate China’s Telecommunications sector: China Telecom, China Unicom, and China Mobile.

The three companies were formed as part of a reorganization plan announced by the Ministries of Information Industry (MII), National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), and Finance Minister in May 2008. All three businesses have now obtained statewide fixed-line and cellular mobile communications licenses in China. All three telecommunications companies received 5G national licenses in 2019.

• China Mobile stated that the profits of the sale will be utilized to create ‘better future’ initiatives such as premium 5G networks, cloud infrastructure, and intelligent ecosystems.