China Mobile up on 4G

China Mobile reports a 3.4 percent rise in nine-month profit after luring users to its fourth-generation network.

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Shanghai - China Mobile, the world’s largest phone carrier, reported a 3.4 percent rise in nine-month profit after luring users to its fourth-generation network.

Net income was 85.4 billion yuan ($13.5 billion) in the period ended September, up from 82.6 billion yuan a year earlier, the Beijing-based company said Tuesday. Operating revenue for the nine months was 512.7 billion yuan.

China Mobile is luring more users to its 4G service as government-imposed marketing cuts help improve profitability with total subscribers on the faster network reaching 247.6 million at the end of September.

In the longer term, a government decision to put carriers’ tower assets into a central holding company may help lower spending as it rolls out coverage to rural areas.

Shares of China Mobile fell 0.3 percent to HK$95.70 in Hong Kong trading before the earnings release. The stock has added 5.8 percent this year compared with a 2.6 percent decline in the Hang Seng Index, of which it’s the third-largest member.

BLOOMBERG