China Mobile net profit rises 1.4%

China Mobile, the world's biggest mobile operator by subscribers, Monday reported a 1.4 percent rise in net profit for the first nine months of the year, amid robust growth in its subscriber base.

Net profit rose to 93.31 billion yuan ($14.8 billion) in the January-September period, up from 91.98 billion yuan in the same period last year, the company said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Operating revenue was up by 6.4 percent to 408.6 billion yuan compared to 383.8 billion yuan a year earlier.

"The group has maintained favourable development momentum despite the intensified competition and various challenges," China Mobile said in the statement, acknowledging a "remarkable" growth in its customer base.

"The average monthly net additional customers for the first three quarters exceeded 5.4 million and the group continued to lead the industry."

The firm added 15.43 million customers in this period, reaching a total of 698.51 million subscribers by the end of September.

The phone operator also said it saw rapid growth in wireless data traffic, which increased by 188.1 percent compared with the same period last year.

"The group actively promoted the healthy development of the data business, particularly the mobile Internet business," it said.

The company's shares closed up 1.06 percent after the announcement, while the benchmark Hang Seng index rose 0.68 percent.

(c) 2012 AFP