Subscriber growth on target China

Telecom's subscriber numbers grew 9.3 per cent to 62.2m in the first six months of 2003, putting it on target to meet its forecast of 8m new subscribers in the full year. The increase was built upon a 68 per cent rise in users of its local wireless service, known as Xiaolingtong, to 5.37m.

However, total revenues have not risen so fast, growing just 7.2 per cent year-on-year to Yn39.5bn. Net profits for the first six months grew 9.2 per cent to Yn9.26bn.