China Telecom (0728.HK) posted a 7.5 percent year-on-year rise in 2011 net profit to 16.52 billion yuan, and based on international accounting standards, revenue increased 11.45 percent to 245.04 billion yuan, reports yicai.com, citing a company filing. Earnings per share hit 0.2 yuan.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) rose 6.5 percent from a year ago to 94.27 billion yuan, with an EBITDA ratio of 40.8 percent.

The largest fixed-line operator in China incurred capital expenditure of 49.55 billion yuan, accounting for 20.2 percent of total revenue.

China Telecom reported free cash flow of 20.29 billion yuan, and announced dividends of HK$0.085 per share, unchanged from  2010.

The operator generated revenue of 68.25 billion yuan from its mobile business in 2011, up 43 percent from 2010 and accounting for 27.9 percent of total revenue.

The mobile data business recorded a 57.4 percent year-on-year rise in revenue to 29.62 billion yuan, while revenue from the broadband business rose 12.3 percent to 60.8 billion yuan.

Through the end of 2011, China Telecom had 126 million mobile users, a net addition of 35.95 million, becoming the largest CDMA operator globally.

The number of new 3G users increased by a net 24 million, or 195.3 percent, bringing the total number of 3G users to 36.29 million, and accounting for 28.5 percent of China's 3G market.

Source:capitalvue.com