Shares of China Mobile yesterday took their steepest tumble in more than a month amid selling pressure prompted by the mainland company's lower than expected earnings in the first quarter.
The world's largest mobile-telephone network operator, with about 477 million subscribers as of last month, dropped 5.11 per cent to close at HK$70.50, the biggest decline since March 20.
With the tightening economy and increased domestic competition, China Mobile missed analyst estimates in the first quarter.
The company posted its lowest rate of growth in five years, with net income rising just 5.2 per cent to 25.2 billion yuan (HK$28.58 billion) from 23.95 billion yuan in the same period last year.
'The first-quarter results reinforce our view that China Mobile is moving into a lower-growth environment,' said Tim Smart, the regional head of telecommunications research at Macquarie Research Equities.
China Mobile has to compete in both wireless and fixed-line network services against China Telecom Corp and China Unicom under sweeping reforms implemented by Beijing. China Mobile also has the burden of promoting and growing domestic adoption of the mainland-created TD-SCDMA 3G mobile technology.
