China Mobile Ltd, the world’s biggest mobile operator by subscribers, is looking at acquisition and investment targets in Asia and Africa as profit growth slows at home, its chairman said on 19 March.
Profit growth has been slowing because of rising competition after a government-mandated restructuring in late 2008 merged China’s six telecom operators into three nationwide full-service operators, bringing China Telecom Corp. into the mobile market. The mobile giant reported on 18 March its net profit last year rose just 2.3 percent to CNY115.20 billion (USD16.88 billion) from CNY112.63 billion (USD16.50 billion) a year earlier, sharply lower than the 30 percent growth it saw in 2008.
(Source: The Wall Street Journal Online)