China Mobile has seen a slight drop in net profits for the first half of 2012, down to 34.40bn yuan (£3.4bn), compared to 34.42bn yuan last year.
In its 2012 interim results, the biggest operator in China announced that it had gained 33.5m new customers, to a total customer base of 683m – more than double the entire population of the US – and revenue rose by 5.4 per cent to 139.1bn yuan.
However, only 10 per cent of those customers are on 3G subscriptions, as opposed to the lower-revenue 2G – perhaps related to the fact that it is the only operator in China which doesnt have a deal with Apple to sell the iPhone. 
“Looking forward, the information and communications industry is at a critical stage of transformation,” says China Mobile in the report. “Information and communications technologies will veer towards broadband, mobility and integration. With the increasing popularity of smart terminals, the sustained growth in demand for information and communications services will bring huge market potential, presenting the group with a new value source. The rapid development of the mobile internet has brought new opportunities to the company, but at the same time has also presented challenges with business replacement and value shift.”
China Mobile saw its revenue from data services revenue grow 17.3 per cent compared to last year, to 76bn yuan – 28.5 per cent of its total operating revenue.
