China mobile phone carriers see profits squeezed in Q3

A little competition is usually a good thing, but apparently not so for China’s mobile phone sector as domestic carriers continued to see profits squeezed in the third quarter. China Mobile booked a net profit of US$4.19 billion, up 2.8% from from the second quarter but still reflecting an overall decline in earnings since January; China Telecom recorded a 48% drop in net proft to US$350 million.  The country’s biggest three mobile operators have also been battling it out to see who comes out top in the 3G game, with each carrier rolling out its own service. Analysts and tech-heads alike are eagerly awaiting China Unicom’s imminent launch of Apple’s iPhone to see what happens next. Speaking of phones, somebody should have called Mike Yu and told him to stop being a naughty boy. Yu, an employee of Beijing Automotive Industry Holdings, is alleged to have stolen trade secrets from Ford before moving to BAIC in 2007. He is believed to have copied some 4,000 documents before he left the US carmaker. But this news is unlikely to alter the fact that China and the US are back at the whole trade war thing again. And, before you ask, this time its nylon.