China Telecom announced that its first-half profits fell by 29% due in part to marketing costs for its mobile services, the South China Morning Post reported. Profits in the year to June were US$1.32 billion, down 28.57% from the first half of 2008. First-half revenues rose to US$15 billion, up 14.13% year-on-year as selling, general and administrative expenses rose 60% to US$2.57 billion. The company said that operations remained "on track" despite higher marketing costs; new mobile subscribers in the first half numbered 11.37 million, for a total of 39.28 million, of which 1.3 million subscribe to the company’s third-generation (3G) mobile services. Competitor China Mobile also reported a profit decline recently. The drop in second-quarter earnings was China Mobile’s first profit decline in 12 years.
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