China Mobile will develop Internet of Things and broadband business after traditional voice and text message business face challenges from Internet-based services like Tencent's messaging app WeChat.
China Mobile now has 11 million IOT users, covering automotive and industrial applications. It aims to connect 5 billion devices by 2020 and create a revenue of 100 billion yuan ($15 billion), the telecom giant said at the Mobile World Congress Shanghai.
The company with more than 800 million subscribers said earlier that it would invest 1 billion yuan on innovative and startup firms over the next five years to enhance its competitive ability, covering the IOT and various mobile services.
In the first quarter, China Mobile's net profit grew only 0.5 percent year on year, facing challenges from WeChat and other services eroding its voice and text message income.
This year, China Mobile plans to build 300,000 4G base stations to enhance 4G services and expand markets in overseas markets.
It also plans to develop 18 million new family broadband users to narrow the gaps with rivals China Unicom and China Telecom.
