China Mobile Ltd., with twice as many subscribers as the population of Japan, increased third-quarter profit 23 percent after reduced call charges attracted customers.
Net income rose to 15.9 billion Yuan ($2 billion) from 12.9 billion Yuan a year earlier, as revenue gained 23 percent to 75.7 billion Yuan. The figures were derived by subtracting first-half numbers from nine-month results.
China Mobile, based in Beijing and also the world's biggest wireless company by market value, had 287.2 million subscribers in September and is adding about 5 million a month. To sustain that pace, Chairman Wang Jianzhou may need to win customers in poorer, rural areas, home to 800 million. The government also plans to issue licenses for so-called third-generation services, which allow video calls and wireless Web access.
“China Mobile is becoming bigger and more competitive even though there are uncertainties over 3G issues,” said Agnes Deng, who helps manage $3.5 billion of assets at Standard Life Investments Asia in Hong Kong, including China Mobile shares. “The telecom companies are trying to become bigger and stronger before 3G is announced.”
China Mobile, which uses the global system for mobile communications standard and has about two-thirds of the nation's wireless market, added 4.46 million subscribers in September. Of those, 4.18 million were prepaid customers and 292,000 were contract users.
Almost 70 percent of China's population has no mobile phone.
Handset penetration is low and will grow and the sector has excellent long-term prospects.
China Mobile in May began offering reduced monthly rates for customers in Beijing and lowered roaming charges in the western province of Sichuan and in Zhejiang, on the east coast.
Phone companies in China have delayed increases in spending until the government issues licenses for 3G services. The government hasn't said when it will award licenses, or how many it will issue.
China Unicom, the country's second-largest mobile-phone company, yesterday said it added 1.23 million users in September, for a total of 138.5 million at the end of the month. The company offers services on GSM as well as code-division multiple access, or CDMA, networks.
China Mobile acquired 10 networks in poorer provinces last year to expand its subscriber base. The increase helped China Mobile raise earnings even as monthly average revenue per user declined to 89 Yuan in the January-September period from 90 Yuan a year earlier.
That decline in revenue per user reflected a higher proportion of prepaid users, who typically spend less. Spending by customers in rural areas is also lower than in cities.
Increased revenue from non-voice services such as short- messaging service, or SMS, ring-tone downloads and caller identification made up for declining voice usage.
In the first nine months, the number of users for mobile data services rose 27 percent 250.7 million. Subscribers sent 255 billion short messages, up 43 percent from a year earlier.
Profit rose 25 percent to 46.1 billion Yuan in the nine months ended Sept. 30, from 36.9 billion Yuan a year earlier. Sales increased 21 percent to 212.7 billion Yuan.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose 26 percent to 121.2 billion Yuan in the nine months, from 96 billion Yuan, China Mobile said.
Source:佚名