China Telecom posts solid third-quarter earnings, helped by strong subscriber gains
The company says it added 25.6 million new mobile users between January and September this year
China Telecom Corp, the country’s third-largest mobile network operator, posted solid financial results in the quarter ended September 30, thanks to strong subscriber growth and higher service revenue.
The company, which also runs the country’s biggest fixed-line network, reported a 1.9 per cent increase in third-quarter net profit to about 6 billion yuan (US$904 million), up from 5.9 billion yuan in the same period last year.
Chris Lane, a senior analyst at Bernstein Research, said China Telecom’s net profit came in slightly below the market’s consensus estimate of 6.1 billion yuan and Bernstein’s own 6.5 billion yuan prediction.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) – representing net cash flows from the company’s businesses – rose 3.7 per cent to 26.4 billion yuan from 25.5 billion yuan a year earlier.
Total revenue climbed 4.1 per cent to 90.6 billion yuan from 86.9 billion yuan the previous year. That was driven by a 7.2 per cent increase in combined mobile and fixed-line services revenue to 83.9 billion yuan from 78.3 billion yuan a year ago.