On August 1, the 2024 China Mobile Southeast Asia Cooperation Conference was held in Bangkok, Thailand. With the theme of "Connecting through Data, Innovating the Future", the conference brought together the government officials and regional partners from Southeast Asia to discuss the development vision and foster collaboration in the future. The dignitaries who addressed the conference included H.E. Prasert Jantararuangtong, Minister of Digital Economy and Society of the Kingdom of Thailand; H.E. Han Zhiqiang, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of China in the Kingdom of Thailand; H.E. Dr. Piti Srisangnam, Executive Director of the ASEAN Foundation; YB Teo Nie Ching, Deputy Minister of Communications of Malaysia; H.E. Keovisouk Solaphom, Deputy Minister of Technology and Communications of the Lao People's Democratic Republic; Mr. Gao Tongqing, Executive Vice President (EVP) of China Mobile Communications Group Co., Ltd. More than 1200 participants from intergovernmental organizations and government agencies, leading operators and ICT business partners, industry experts and scholars, and key media across Southeast Asia attended the conference. China Mobile Migu broadcasted the whole conference online.

Mr. Gao Tongqing stated in his speech that the fourth industrial revolution, which is characterized by digitalization and intelligence, is further developing, and the global economic recovery and growth are facing new development opportunities.

First, new generation information technology, represented by 5G and AI, has become the "new engine" driving the development of the digital economy. Second, economies, represented by China and ASEAN, have become the "new driving force" to boost the development of the global digital economy. Third, multilateral and multidisciplinary cooperation have become the "new form" of digital economy cooperation. Facing new opportunities in the digital era, China Mobile is willing to work with all parties to actively build a bridge for digital economic exchanges between China and Southeast Asia, deepen mutual trust, and jointly build and share a comprehensive, multi-level cooperation platform for the regional digital economy. The first focus is to jointly build the digital highways and enhance the digital infrastructure connectivity. The second focus is to co-create value for digital economy and jointly build the best practices for the integration of digital and physical economies in Southeast Asia. Third, the focus is to jointly promote the prosperity of the digital and intelligent ecosystem and share the development dividends of the global digital economy.

In their speeches, Minister H.E. Prasert, Ambassador H.E. Han Zhiqiang, Director Dr. Piti, Deputy Minister YB Teo Nie Ching, Vice Minister H.E. Keovisouk and others expressed their recognition of the value of China Mobile for hosting this regional cooperation conference. They hoped that China Mobile could gather the regional forces in the ecosystem to jointly promote the development of digital infrastructure in Southeast Asia and jointly create regional digital economic prosperity.

At the conference, China Mobile joined hands with partners from Thailand, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore and other countries to unveil the "Jointly Build a New Digital Economy Foundation in Southeast Asia" Initiative, aiming to promote the interconnectivity of digital infrastructure and support the development of digital economy and artificial intelligence across the region. Additionally, China Mobile International signed strategic cooperation memorandums of understanding (MoU) respectively with the Tourism Authority of Thailand, PT Telekomunikasi Selular、Maxis Berhad、U Mobile Sdn. Bhd as well as MobiFone Global and Technology JSC at the conference to establish mutually beneficial and synergistic strategic partnerships. During the panel discussion held in the morning, government officials from the Lao People's Democratic Republic Ministry of Technology and Communications, senior representatives from the National Telecom Public Company Limited and Digital Nasional Berhad, along with experts and scholars from Deloitte China and Nanyang Technological University shared their valuable insights on the topic of "Promoting the Development and Interconnection of Digital Infrastructure in Southeast Asia" and reached a consensus on cooperation.

A special forum titled "Digitalization and Intelligence Empowering Navigation: Digital Transformation of Chinese Enterprises Going Global" was featured in the conference. Mr. Jiang Wei, Minister Counselor of Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Kingdom of Thailand attended the session and delivered a speech. China Mobile International, together with the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) and Huawei, launched the "Blue Book on the Digital Development of Chinese Overseas Enterprise (Asia Pacific)". CMI also signed strategic MoU with Chinese Enterprises Association Thailand, China Enterprises Association (Singapore), China Enterprises Chamber of Commerce in Malaysia (CECCM), Chinese Indonesia Association, Business Association of China in Vietnam, Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia, China Enterprises Association (Japan) (CEAJ), China Chamber of Commerce in Korea, China Chamber of Commerce in Australia-Melbourne Branch (CCCA), and Chinese Enterprises Philippine Association to further empower the digital transformation of Chinese enterprises going global. At the panel forum held in the afternoon, China Mobile, together with experts and scholars from China Enterprises Association (Singapore), COSCO Shipping (Southeast Asia) Pte. Ltd., Haidilao International Holding Ltd, xFusion Digital Technologies Co., Limited and Tsinghua University, discussed the opportunities for digital transformation of Chinese enterprises going global, as well as the capital contribution needed to establish a new perspective on high-level opening-up to the world.

During the conference, China Mobile built a special exhibition area to display China Mobile's global computing power infrastructure. The personal business exhibits included 5G+ new calls, 5G+ video ringtones, and 5G cloud phones. The carrier business exhibits included operator consultation, 5G private networks, 5G+ smart homes, and roaming settlement. The enterprise business exhibits included 5G+ smart parks, 5G+ smart ports, 5G+ smart canteens, and 5G+ smart offices. The exhibition also included a display of the 5G+ Jiutian Artificial Intelligence Platform. These exhibits fully demonstrated China Mobile's core capabilities in networking, industry applications, and ecosystem development.

China Mobile has continuously strengthened its international operations in recent years. Building on the foundation of serving roaming users across large networks, it has developed consumers, carrier and enterprise businesses on a large scale. It has also strengthened its two major networks in Hong Kong and Pakistan. With more than 90 submarine and terrestrial cable system resources, connecting 78 countries, total equity bandwidth exceeding 390T, 310 overseas PoPs, and data centers in Hong Kong, Singapore, London, Frankfurt, etc., further enhancing its influence. Solutions such as intelligent cloud network, smart park, cross-border business travel communication, and "one-stop" Internet of Vehicles provide all-round support for Chinese enterprises going global. In 2023, China Mobile's billed revenue exceeded one trillion, and its profits hit a new record high. China Mobile has become the world's No. 1 in term of network scale, customer base, and revenue size, and is the world's leading telecommunications operator in terms of innovative capability, brand value, market capitalisation, and profitability.