China Mobile Net Profit Up 2.7%

Chinese telecom operator China Mobile published its annual financial report for 2012, stating that the company’s operating revenue was CNY560.4 billion, a year-on-year increase of 6.1%; and its profit attributable to shareholders was CNY129.3 billion, a year-on-year increase of 2.7%.

At the same time, China Mobile’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization were CNY253.6 billion, a year-on-year increase of 1%, and its EBITDA rate was 45.3%. The company’s basic earnings per share were CNY6.43, an increase of 2.6% compared with the previous year.

By user group, China Mobile achieved net increase of 60.73 million users in 2012, reaching a total of 710 million. Of the total, 3G users saw a net increase of 36.72 million, reaching 87.93 million. Meanwhile, the number of the company’s group clients saw a significant growth to 3.46 million.

By service, its voice service continued to grow and the total call time of users reached 4.192 trillion minutes in 2012, a year-on-year increase of 7.8%. Its data service also saw a rapid growth. The mobile Internet business achieved a traffic increase by 187.6% compared with 2011 and the related revenue increased by 53.6%, accounting for 12.2% of the total operating revenue of the company.

For network construction, China Mobile’s network capacity and coverage continued to improve and its traffic load-bearing structure was gradually optimized. At present, its GSM network coverage and voice service quality maintains an advantageous position; while its 3G and WLAN coverage being obviously enhanced.

In addition, the company has been promoting the development of 4G network. It launched TD-LTE testing in 15 cities and it already built 4G networks which can be used for commercial operation in Hangzhou, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. In Hong Kong, China Mobile launched TD-LTE/LTE FDD integrated network service.