China Mobile Earnings (Photo : Getty Images)
Chinese state-owned telecommunications company China Mobile posted operating revenue that reached 708.4 billion yuan in 2016, an increase of 6 percent year-on-year, according to chinatechnews.com.
According to the report, the company's earnings were 256.7 billion, an increase of 6.9 percent year-on-year, before taxes, interest rates, depreciation and amortization. Its net profit reached 108.7 billion, a meager increase of 0.2 percent compared with the same period last year.
The report said that the company's average profit per day last year was about 300 million and its net profit was almost five times the combined profits of China Unicom and China Telecom.
Based on its 2016 revenue, the company's communications service revenue increased by 6.7 percent, while its mobile data revenue grew by 43.5 percent year-on-year. Out of the total communications service revenue, 46.2 percent came from its earnings from mobile data, which is also the company's largest source of income.
China Mobile's users reached 849 million by the end of 2016, representing an increase of 22.66 million. The company's 4G users also rose to 223 million and reached a total of 535 million.
The company has added 400,000 new 4G base stations, bringing its 4G base stations to a total of 1.51 million, serving a population of more than 1.3 billion people.
China Telecom and China Unicom had earlier released their annual performance report for 2016. China Unicom's operating revenue for 2016 amounted to 274.2 billion yuan, dropping 1 percent year-on-year, while its net profit reached 630 million, a decrease of 94 percent year-on-year.
On the other hand, China Telecom posted operating revenue of 352.29 billion yuan in 2016, up 6.4 percent year-on-year. It had a net profit of 18 billion yuan, a 10.2 percent decline year-on-year.
China Mobile was among the potential buyers approached by shareholders of M1 Ltd, a Singapore telecoms company, to sell its majority stake in the firm.
If China Mobile decides to acquire M1, it would be the company's biggest overseas venture.
In 2014, the company bought an 18 percent share in True Corp., a Thai company, and before that in 2007, it acquired Paktel, a telecom firm in Pakistan.
