[photopress:it_china_mobiule_user_1.jpg,full,alignright]China Mobile, the country’s biggest mobile phone carrier, says its first-quarter profits have surged while China Telecom, which does fixed lines, said earnings barely grew.
China Mobile said profits for the three months ending March 31 rose 37.2% over the same period of 2007 to RM24.1 billion ($3.4 billion). It said the number of subscribers rose 6% to 392 million.
In contrast, China Telecom, the country’s main fixed-line carrier, said its earnings edged up 0.5$ from the year earlier’s same quarter to RMB6.2 billion ($880 million).
The starkly different results illustrate the growing dominance of mobile phones in China, where many first-time telecoms customers now skip fixed-line service and opt solely for mobile
An amazing statement appeared in the Reuters reports. First it sais that China Mobile will continue to enjoy its leading position in China’s wireless telecom market as there is no clear schedule on the sector’s restructuring.
Kenny Tang, associate director at research department said, ‘It will benefit if the issuance of China’s 3G licences continues to be delayed.’
And you might have said it would have benefitted rickshaw pullers if no one had invented the motor car.
A newspaper quoted Ernst and Young as saying licences for China’s homegrown third-generation (3G) wireless standard may not be granted for one or two years. Which means China will be well behind the rest of the world and, incidentally, will have broken its promise to make these Olympics high tech.
Source: Reuters