A tougher market has forced the mainland's mobile carriers to improve their cost-effectiveness.
Red chip China Unicom, which axed 641 employees last year to take its total headcount to 29,332, saw per employee revenue increase 41.1 per cent to 1.38 million yuan (about HK$1.3 million).
Rival China Mobile (Hong Kong), which hired 1,724 more staff, taking its headcount to 59,633, saw revenue per employee rise by 10.6 per cent to 2.41 million yuan.
In return, both carriers rewarded their employees with salary rises, except for their top executives.
The average annual salary of China Unicom's employees rose 37.1 per cent last year to 113,869 yuan. China Mobile's employees saw their average pay rise 5.9 per cent to 135,786 yuan a year. In contrast, China Unicom's highest paid director, believed to be chairman Yang Jianzu, received 1.5 million yuan less - taking his annual remuneration to between 3.5 million yuan and four million yuan.
According to China Mobile's annual report, its two highest paid directors - believed to be chairman and chief executive Wang Xiaochu and chief operating officer Li Zhenqun - were paid between two million and 2.5 million yuan last year, 20 per cent less than in 2001.