China Telecom's net profit jumped 6.3 percent annually in the first half of the year as revenue from 4G and broadband grew, the country's No. 3 carrier said yesterday.
Its net earnings for the first half year ended on June 30 rose to 11.67 billion yuan ($1.76 billion) from a year ago while its revenue in the same period totaled 176.83 billion yuan, up 7.2 percent annually.
The telco cited the increase in revenue and profit from growth in high-speed wireless connection and family broadband business, which helped overcome the decline in income from voice and short message service that is being challenged by message tools like WeChat and FaceTime.
By the end of June, China Telecom had 207 million mobile users, including 90.1 million 4G users.
The country's biggest fixed-line phone operator also posted a 24.3 percent jump in high-speed fiber optic broadband users to 88.3 million in the first half year.
China Mobile, the country's biggest telco, also saw its first-half year profit increase 5.6 percent annually.
