The storm havoc in southern China has ensured that industry restructure won't take place until after the Olympic Games, according to a research note by CLSA.
The severe winter weather would also likely affect the first quarter performance of China's carriers, China Telecom in particular, CLSA said.
The CLSA report said that the storm impact would delay the restructure plan of telecom carriers, which many had believed would go ahead in March, China Business News reported.
CLSA said that total losses, estimated at 1.2 billion yuan by MII, represented just 1.7% of the industry's annual 800 billion yuan revenue. However, as it occurred during one of the peak traffic periods of the year, the result would show up in the carriers' next quarterly results.
China Telecom will be the most affected, CLSA said, while China Netcom, whose business is based in the northern half of the country, will be the least-affected.
China Telecom said on Friday it would have restored all services by March 31. It said it would use the rebuilding program to accelerate the replacement of copper with fiber cable.