China Mobile reports 2019 drop in profit

China Mobile posted a drop in net profit of 9.5 percent in 2019 with telecommunications income close to saturation point, the world’s biggest mobile carrier by user base said on Thursday.

It also announced investment of 180 billion yuan (US$25.7 billion) in 2020, mainly on 5G network construction.

China Mobile’s net profit last year was 106.6 billion yuan. Revenue reached 745.9 billion yuan, a 1.2 percent growth compared with the previous year.

The net profit was pressured by a slowly growing user base and more affordable price packages.

By the end of last year, the carrier had added 25.2 million new mobile users, taking its total to 950 million users. Its broadband user base reached 172 million.

The carrier plans to spend 179.8 billion yuan this year, including investment in 5G of over 100 billion yuan. By the end of the year, it plans to have built 300,000 5G base stations nationwide.

China will have 807 million 5G users by 2025, almost half the country’s total mobile user base, which will also be the biggest portion worldwide, said GSMA, a leading mobile communications industry association.