China Mobile net profit up 6.3%

Chinese telecom giant China Mobile said Thursday that its net profit rose 6.3 percent to 61.28 billion yuan RMB for the six months ending June 30 this year, which was slightly better than analysts expected. The turnover was 250.08 billion yuan RMB, an increase of 8.8 percent from a year earlier. EBITDA rose 6.5 percent over the same period last year to 124.2 billion yuan RMB, with EBITDA margin reaching 49.6 percent. China Mobile's total customer base exceeded 610 million by the end of the reporting period, with a net addition of 32.77 million customers. The number of 3G customers was 35.03 million. The interim dividend will be 1.58 HK dollars per share. Chairman Wang Jianzhou said in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that the company's value-added services business grew rapidly and wireless data business continued to demonstrate high growth momentum. It will continue promoting the operation of 3G networks and accelerate the worldwide development of home-grown TD-LTE technology, he said. (1 U.S. dollar equals 6.4 yuan RMB or 7.8 HK dollars)