While capital spending in the mainland telecommunications sector is expected to decline this year, investment by the major carriers in key information-technology systems and services will remain stable due to growing competition, according to AsiaInfo Holdings.
The trend will enable Beijing-based AsiaInfo, the leading provider of telecom software and information-technology services to the country's three main operators, to further boost its revenue after posting strong earnings in the first quarter.
Chief executive Steve Zhang said the amount spent on services and software, such as business intelligence, integrated billing and customer relations management systems, continues to increase, compared with hardware. 'We are seeing a lot of demand for our business operations consulting from all three operators,' Zhang said. 'Carriers are willing to spend to gain customer insight.'
Nasdaq-listed AsiaInfo, which was founded in Texas in 1993 and moved its operations to the mainland in 1995, saw its first-quarter net income rise to US$10.3 million from US$5.8 million a year ago due to high demand from its three core customers - China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom Corp. Revenue reached US$63.5 million, up 24.5 per cent from US$51 million.
China Mobile accounted for 66 per cent of AsiaInfo's quarterly revenue, Unicom 16 per cent and China Telecom 9 per cent.
The company also has a non-telecommunications line of business under the Lenovo-AsiaInfo brand, which has been offering information-technology security products and services since 2004.
