China Mobile records first fall in quarterly net income since 1999

The world’s largest cellular operator by subscribers, China Mobile, has posted a 1.6% decline in second quarter net income to RMB30.1 billion (USD4.4 billion). The fall is the first for the company since 1999 and comes on the back of declining ARPU, reflecting the rural, poorer status of the company’s new subscribers as the urban market becomes saturated. For the first half of the year overall, net profit was up 1.4% to RMB55.3 billion on the back of an 8.9% increase in sales to RMB212.9 billion. At 30 June the cellco’s subscriber base stood at 493 million.