China Mobile tops 50m 4G subscribers

China Mobile has topped its year-end goal of acquiring 50 million 4G subscribers by the end of October, China's State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission said on Thursday.

In 10 months, China's largest telecom carrier has built 470,000 base stations for its next-generation, high-speed network and reached the subscriber target that it had set for the end of 2014.

China Mobile's swiftly growing 4G business is a rare bright spot for the carrier. In October, China Mobile reported a year-on-year revenue drop for the first time since at least 2009.