China Mobile has increased capital expenditure by 60% for this year to upgrade its 2G network while it continues to wait for state approval on 3G. The telecoms giant will increase spending to US$10.4 billion for this year, while in 2007 the rise will be 76% from the original allocation to US$9.7 billion. The company recorded better-than-expected net profits of US$6.66 billion last year – a rise of 28.3% – after taking market share from China Unicom. The extra funds will pay for expanding capacity for voice services, as well as preparing software for the introduction of 3G. China Mobile expects strong growth from its customer base of more than 250 million subscribers. Licenses for 3G operations are expected to be granted in the second half of this year.