Recent insider information reveals that China Telecom's ICT project revenue recognition for the full year of 2025 presents a challenging outlook, with more than half of its provincial branches experiencing a decline. This indicates significant difficulties in the development of this business segment. Last year, the protocol-level planned revenue recognition for China Telecom's ICT projects exceeded 60 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth rate of less than 1%. Among these, only 14 provincial branches achieved positive growth compared to the previous year, while 17 saw a decline.

Revenue recognition for ICT projects refers to the process of registering and recording project income in financial statements or accounting books. In simpler terms, it involves formally recording various revenues obtained from business activities and operations into the financial system according to specific accounting rules and procedures, ensuring accurate reflection of financial status and operational results. However, more than half of China Telecom's provincial branches have reported a decrease in ICT project revenue recognition, highlighting the severe challenges currently facing the company's ICT project development.

The service cycles for government and enterprise projects undertaken by telecom operators are generally long, and payment cycles from government and enterprise clients are correspondingly extended. This increases the difficulty of collecting payments, leading to a further expansion in the scale of bad debts and non-performing loans. At the same time, in their earlier efforts to capture market share, operators engaged aggressively in price competition. Under these circumstances, it is natural for the government and enterprise market to enter a "cold winter," with the key focus now being on how to achieve a "recovery."