China Mobile released details regarding the awards of their 2025/2026 loose-tube optical cable tender on 7 June 2025 – less than one month after announcing the tender on 8 May 2025. As anticipated, competition for the 98.8M F-km optical cable tender was intense. According to CRU’s market intelligence, 27 bids were submitted, 18 qualified and 14 companies were ultimately awarded.
The top four winners – ZTT, Hengtong, YOFC, and FiberHome – secured a combined 60% share of China Mobile’s optical cable tender, equivalent to 59.3M F-km, reaffirming their dominant positions in the Chinese optical cable market. ZTT led the group with a 19.36% share, or 19.1M F-km, and submitted the highest bidding value at RMB5,416 million, resulting in an optical cable price of RMB54.80 /F-km, including VAT. Hengtong followed with a 15.48% share, or 15.3M F-km, at a total bid value of RMB5,331 million and a derived price of RMB53.94 /F-km, including VAT. YOFC and FiberHome were awarded 13.55% (13.4M F-km) and 11.61% (11.5M F-km), respectively.
Despite China Mobile increasing the weighting of the pricing criteria from 40% to 50% this year, ZTT and Hengtong’s success in securing top spots at higher prices highlights the growing importance of scoring well on non-price factors such as production capacity, product quality, delivery reliability, R&D strength, ESG credentials etc. This reflects a relatively positive shift in the Chinese tender environment, where major suppliers are increasingly differentiating themselves through value-added capabilities rather than competing solely on price.
On the other hand, Hangzhou Futong’s performance in this China Mobile optical cable tender further declined, with its awarded share dropping to 3.33%, or 3.3M F-km – marking a continued downward trajectory from previous tenders. This volume now is just one-tenth of its peak award of 32.5M F-km in the 2020/2021 round, underscoring the sustained challenges the company faces. Additionally, Futong’s affiliated subsidiaries – Tianjin Futong and Shenzhen New Aoke – participated in the bidding process but failed to secure any awards this year. Tianjin Futong’s situation is further compounded by its official delisting from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2024. Meanwhile, Tongding and Jiangsu Tongguang (once regular players in major Chinese carrier tenders) have once again missed out, receiving no awards in this latest round, highlighting the growing concentration of share among the leading suppliers and intensifying competition in China’s domestic market.
Indeed, if affiliated companies – such as Sichuan Tianfu Jiangdong (affiliated with ZTT), Xi’an FXOC (Hengtong), Shantou Aoxing (YOFC), and Nanjing Huaxin Fujikura (FiberHome) – are also included, China’s ‘Big Four’ players have secured as much as 77.09% of China Mobile’s total tendered volume in this round, amounting to 76.2M F-km. Except for ZTT’s slightly higher optical cable winning prices, the other ‘Big Four’ producers’ prices showed little deviation from the weighted average winning prices of other independent firms, indicating consistent bidding strategies regardless of company size this year.
Implied fibre prices settled at approximately $2.3 /F-km
In terms of pricing, the weighted average price in this China Mobile optical cable tender settled at RMB53.85 /F-km, including VAT (or $6.63 /F-km excluding VAT) – representing a decline of 26.2%, compared to the previous tender. As discussed in CRU’s China Mobile 2025/2026 tender announcement insight, this sharp price drop reflects broader market dynamics – notably reduced domestic consumption amid persistent oversupply in recent years.
While translating optical cable tender prices into meaningful bare fibre pricing is challenging, the results suggest an implied fibre price of approximately RMB18.85 /F-km, including VAT (or $2.32 /F-km excluding VAT). This represents a 35.4% decline, from the 2023/2024 China Mobile tender. Although a significant drop, CRU’s assessment shows that Chinese spot prices for G652.D fibre have fallen even further, by 40.7% in RMB terms between July 2023 (when the previous tender was awarded) and May 2025. Spot prices in May stood at RMB17.5 /F-km including VAT (or $2.15 /F-km excluding VAT), indicating that China Mobile’s implied fibre prices remain slightly above domestic spot levels. This suggests a deliberate effort by the carrier to stabilise market sentiment and prevent a race to the bottom, which could compromise product quality and lead to supply disruptions.
Looking ahead to 2025 H2, CRU expects the final settled prices from the China Mobile optical cable tender to serve as a reference point for optical fibre and cable pricing, both within China and internationally. Despite current prices hovering near cost levels for some domestic manufacturers, we see limited scope for a meaningful price rebound in the near term, given the prevailing supply-demand imbalance. Following these awards, China Telecom is expected to launch its main optical cable tender in the second half of this year. In total, CRU estimates that China’s three major operators will tender over 212M F-km of optical cable this year, just 17M F-km below the peak reached in the 2021/2022 cycle. However, not all of this volume is expected to translate into installations within 2025.
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