China Telecom Ltd., one of the country’s three main state-owned phone carriers, said on Tuesday its 2011 profit rose 10.5 percent as growing use of mobile phones offset a decline for its traditional fixedline business.
China Telecom Ltd. said its 2011 profit was 16,404 billion yuan ($2.6 billion) or 0.20 yuan (3 U.S. cents) per share. Revenue rose 11.7 percent to 244.9 billion yuan ($39.5 billion).
China Telecom and its two main rivals, China Mobile and China Unicom, were restructured in 2008 in a government-directed industry overhaul to give each carrier mobile and fixed-line assets in hopes of spurring competition as consumer demand shifted to mobile services.
The companies have focused on the fast-growing mobile market and developing non traditional services such as fast Internet access and Web-based television.
China Telecom said revenues for its mobile service rose 43 percent last year and became the biggest single component of its business. Revenue for traditional fixed-line voice service fell 20.4 percent compared with 2010.
The company said its mobile subscribers rose 39.7 percent from a year earlier to 126 million. The portion of those subscribers using fast third-generation services more than doubled to 36.3 million.
“At present, 3G service is entering a phase of accelerated growth and will grow explosively. Wireline broadband service is still in a period of high growth,” said chairman and CEO Wang Xiaochu in a statement.
