China Telecom started 2021 with double-digit gains in profit and revenue, adding 24.7 million 5G subscribers in Q1 to take the share of these users to 31.2 per cent of its total mobile customer base.
Net profit increased 10.6 per cent year-on-year to CNY6.4 billion (US$993.3 million) despite a spike in network expenses and costs related to handset distribution. Operating revenue grew 12.7 per cent to CNY106.9 billion, with mobile service rising 8.1 per cent to CNY48.4 billion.
The operator ended March with 111.2 million 5G package subscribers, a net gain of 94.6 million from Q1 2020. Overall mobile subscribers rose 5.5 per cent to 356.2 million with ARPU 2.7 per cent higher at CNY45.60.
Operations and support expenses increased 13.6 per cent to CNY31 billion. Other operating expenses rose 86.8 per cent to CNY9.25 billion, mainly due to significantly scaling up the availability of popular 5G handsets.
Net financing costs decreased by 37.3 per cent CNY546 million.
China Mobile reported a 2.3 per cent increase in profit to CNY24.1 billion for Q1, while China Unicom’s grew 21.4 per cent to CNY3.84 billion.
