Best Telecom Operators Companies in China
The 71 best Telecom Operators companies in China in 2026, ranked by funding and momentum. Funding, investors, founders, valuation, tech stack and live signals. Top: Hong Kong Broadband Network.
Our analysis of 50 Telecom Operators companies
$110.6b in tracked funding; 98% of the stack-profiled cohort runs cloud-native; funding activity peaked in 2025.
Ranked: Best Telecom Operators companies in China
| # | Company | Disclosed funding | Last round | Stage | Founder | Founded | App-install YoY | Patents & IP focus | Recent signals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hong Kong Broadband Network 🦄 Provider of fibre optic broadband internet services | $200M | 135 mo ago | Public | Niq Lai Co-Owner and Chief Executive Officer | 1999 | +9% | — | — |
| 2 | WiFi 🦄 App for quickly connecting to wifi hotspots without a password | $63M | 108 mo ago | Series A | Chen Danian Founder | 2013 | +6% | — | — |
| 3 | 16WiFi Wifi service in public transit systems | $62M | 120 mo ago | Deadpooled | — | 2011 | — | — | — |
| 4 | SpeedCast Provider of satellite connection services | $55M | 51 mo ago | Public | — | 1983 | — | — | 1 launch · 1 partnership |
| 5 | WiWide End to End public wifi service provider and marketing platform for merchants | $49M | 138 mo ago | Series C | — | 2007 | — | — | — |
| 6 | China Mobile Provider of mobile & data services | $43M | 32 mo ago | Public | — | 1997 | — | 5,242 patents Wireless communication protocols, network signaling, data transmission, and scheduling for mobile networks | — |
| 7 | Chengke Microelectronics Provider of high speed network telecommunication services | $28M | 34 mo ago | Series C | — | — | — | — | — |
| 8 | 263 Network Communication Co Wireless internet service provider | $21M | 256 mo ago | Public | — | 1999 | — | — | — |
| 9 | Snail Provider of mobile telecommunication services | $12M | 178 mo ago | Series C | — | 2009 | — | — | — |
| 10 | Qianhai Mobile Public wifi provider focused on public transit | $12M | 132 mo ago | Deadpooled | — | 2013 | — | — | — |
| 11 | Beijing BTB Wireless Roaming SIM and pocket Wi-Fi provider | $10M | 127 mo ago | Series A | Park Dayong CEO | 2003 | — | — | — |
| 12 | WiFi Banlv WiFi service provider | $10M | 138 mo ago | Deadpooled | — | 2013 | — | — | — |
| 13 | TravelRely Cost effective roaming data SIM cards provider | $5M | 128 mo ago | Deadpooled | Orion Chen Wenkai Entrepreneur | 2012 | — | — | — |
| 14 | Cloopen Communication related solutions for Telecom operators | $4M | 80 mo ago | Series D | — | 2009 | — | — | — |
Top 12 Telecom Operators companies in China
#1
Public · Beijing, Beijing · founded 1997 · 485000 employees$42.9Mraised▾
China Mobile provides voice and data services. Voice services include local, domestic long distance, international, roaming along with VAS such as caller ID, caller restrictions, voice mail, conference calls etc. Data services include SMS, MMS, mobile data and app market place for music, reads, and videos. Li Yue is the CEO & Executive Director of the company. In 2022, the company recorded annual revenues of $140.53B and a net profit of $18.76B.
- Oct 2023Post IPO$32.9M
- Dec 2018Post IPO$10.1M
#2
Series C · Shanghai, Shanghai$27.5Mraised▾
Provider of high speed network telecommunication services
#3
Public · Hong Kong, Hong Kong · founded 1983 · 1200 employees$55Mraised▾
Provider of satellite connection services
- Feb 2022Conventional Debt$350M
- Aug 2020Post IPO$395M
- May 2018Conventional Debt$525M
- Jul 2013Conventional Debt$55M
#4
Public · Hong Kong, Hong Kong · founded 1999 · 4834 employees$200Mraised▾
Provider of fibre optic broadband internet services. It offers a range of services including internet broadband, telephony, and IP-TV services for both residential and enterprise customers.
- Mar 2015PE$200M
#5
WiFi 🦄Series A · Shanghai, Shanghai · founded 2013 · 206 employees$62.6Mraised▾
WiFi Master Key lets users share their WiFi hotspots on the platform, so users can find the available hotspots nearby and access the shared hotspots for free. Besides, the app also has a built-in power saver, traffic tracker, signal detector and tethering features, making it a handy WiFi connection management tool for smartphone users. To improve user experience, WiFi Master Key has invested extensively in finding ways to create a greater network of supplementary hotspots for even better results. Currently, the app’s hotspots are mainly hosted by companies, Internet service providers or governments as part of their smart city campaigns.. All ChinaNet hotspots, of which there are 8 million littered throughout the country, are available to Wifi Skeleton Key users. Those hotspots are run by China Mobile, the world’s largest telecom operator. App also crowdsources login credentials, so when one user logs into a hotspot, his or her credentials are added to the database so that everyone else on the app can also use that hotspot. Boasts 800 million users globally.
- 2017Series A—
- Jun 2015Series A$10.6M
- May 2015Series A$52M
#6
Deadpooled · Beijing, Beijing · founded 2011 · 16 employees$61.6Mraised▾
16Wifi is among the largest public transportation WiFi developer and operator in China. 16WiFi provides a hardware interface and mobile app that integrate to bring wifi service to China's public transit systems. A hardware dongle on the bus captures 3G and 4G network service from China's telecoms and converts that into a wifi signal which users can then access by logging in through 16WiFi's client mobile app. It has installed more than 30,000 WiFi hot spots as of Jun 2015
- Jun 2016Series B$45.5M
- Jun 2015Series A$16.1M
#7
Series C · Beijing, Beijing · founded 2007 · 27 employees$48.8Mraised▾
WiWide provides public wifi networks to stores and restaurants. Its partners include 500+ domestic and international franchises in China such as Starbucks, Burger King, and several airports. WiWide offers an end-to-end solution - it develops the routers and other hardware, network architecture, professional installation, and a dashboard application for businesses to keep track of connected customers. Its advertising clients include Jaguar, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Nokia, Lenovo, and HTC, whose ads get pushed to customers once they connect. As of Dec 2014, it has 30,000+ hotspots. It has been working with Tencent to power its WeChat wifi connection program.
- Dec 2014Series C$48.8M
- 2013Series B—
- 2012Series A—
#8
Public · Changping District, Beijing · founded 1999 · 979 employees$21Mraised▾
Wireless internet service provider
- Feb 2005Series A$21M
#9
Series D · Beijing, Beijing · founded 2009$4Mraised▾
Cloud-communication platform is affiliated to Beijing Speedtong Information Technology Co., Ltd. which was founded in 2009. It is an internal-invested subsidiary company of Gaoyang Science and Technology Co., Ltd. with registered capital of RMB 10 million. The core team of the company successfully provides communication related solutions for domestic telecom operators and international leading telecom products. In addition, it even further cooperates with top 500 companies like Huawei and gets into foreign markets. The team has a communication technology accumulation not only in traditional communications but also in Internet integration of communication.
- Oct 2019Series D—
- Jul 2016Series B—
- Nov 2013Series A$4M
#10
Deadpooled · Shenzhen, Guangdong Province · founded 2013 · 31 employees$11.5Mraised▾
Qianhai Mobile is a public wifi provider focused on commuters of public transit. Affiliated with VisionChina Media, a listed media firm. The company's reach spans different routes and approximately 35,000 buses in 18 cities across China. These cities include some of the country's major cities like Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Tianjin.
- Jun 2015Series A$11.5M
#11
Series A · Beijing, Beijing · founded 2003$10Mraised▾
Beijing BTB Wireless (under Uroaming brand), provides phone rental, pocket Wi-Fi rental, roaming SIM and data card services to the international travelers in China. It is currently providing services across following geographies: China mainland, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Thailand, SEA, parts of Europe and America.It is also extending its services to provide booking channels for local services in travel destinations. In 2015, it has won awards like "Best Outbound Wi-Fi Contribution Award", "Award for Product Innovation of the Year 2015", and "2015 Annual Best intelligent travel solutions provider". Pu Dayong is the CEO of the company.
- Nov 2015Series A$10M
#12
Series C · Beijing, Beijing · founded 2009 · 63 employees$12Mraised▾
Provider of virtual digital technologies with independent intellectual property rights intended for developing online games. The company offers industrial type integrating technology development, content research and development, global distribution, platform operation, traffic management and terminal manufacturing for PC, mobile terminals, cloud computing, smart hardware, VR, AR, AI and other directions.
- Aug 2011Series C$12M
Funding & investor landscape
Notable founders
Market landscape — 10 sub-themes by coverage
Share of Telecom Operators coverage by sub-theme.
Regulatory-risk over time rising
Funding & growth over time
funding rising · growth rising
How research on 5G / 6G Networks is moving in China
A read on the academic research around 5G / 6G Networks — which themes are gaining ground, the institutions and researchers driving them, and how the tone is shifting. Based on 15,818 China-affiliated papers.
- Southeast University1474
- University of Electronic Science and Technology of China1265
- Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications1000
- Xidian University962
- Tsinghua University593
- Beamforming536→2634
- MIMO380→1257
- Electronic engineering105→699
- Telecommunications22→464
- Wireless40→343
- Beamforming1219→3417
- MIMO781→1544
- Electronic engineering183→823
- Telecommunications70→594
- Radar139→474
- Beamforming40→83
- Electronic engineering7→26
- Wireless4→22
- Telecommunications3→16
- Transmission (telecommunications)3→13
Where 5g 6g is researched across China
Location clusters by institution affiliation — each city's volume, stance tone, and a quick read on its hot topic, what's advancing, the opening opportunity, and the main concern.
Who's filing 5g 6g patents in China
China 5g 6g patent filing is accelerating — 282,567 filings from 8,000 assignees (2016–2025), led by Huawei TECH, ZTE, Guangdong OPPO Mobile Telecommun; annual filings 14365→39725.
- Huawei TECH136827
- ZTE48757
- Guangdong OPPO Mobile Telecommun31589
- Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software18614
- VIVO Mobile Communication15968
- Datang Mobile Communications Equ7494
- Qualcomm6092
- Lenovo Beijing5744
Common questions
Rohit lives in the feed. He covers what's moving right now — the funding rounds, launches and shifts breaking across the trade press — and ties them back to where the sector is heading.