China Mobile reported operating revenue of CNY 185.5 billion for the first quarter of 2018, which represents an increase of 0.8 percent year-on-year, according Telecompaper. First-quarter EBITDA reached CNY 69.7 billion, up by 3.9 percent year-on-year, while profit amounted to CNY 25.8 billion, up by 4.1 percent over the same period of 2017.
Revenue from telecommunications services amounted to CNY 166.7 billion, up by 3.6 percent over the same period last year. According to China Mobile, to assess the static impact of the adoption of the new revenue standard (IFRS/HKFRS 15), corresponding adjustments have been made to the revenue figures of the comparative period last year, and the subsequent year-on-year growth rate of telecommunications services became 7 percent on a comparable basis.
China Mobile ended March 2018 with 899 million mobile customers. Of these, 4G customers amounted to 672 million, representing a net increase of 22.24 million for the first quarter. The data traffic business maintained favourable growth momentum with handset data traffic recording a 139 percent increase year-on-year. Handset customer DOU reached 2,234MB, representing a year-on-year increase of 123 percent.
Voice business continued with its downward trajectory with total voice usage (minutes) declining by 7.6 percent year-on-year. Total SMS usage rose by 6.3 percent year-on-year. ARPU of mobile customers stood at CNY 55.7 for the first quarter. At 31 March, the total number of wireline broadband customers reached 124 million, representing a net increase of 11.23 million for the first quarter. ARPU of wireline broadband customers was CNY 33.8.
