China Telecom, a leading mobile operator in China, reported drops in its profit and service subscribers in the first quarter of the year despite rising service revenue, the company's financial report said Thursday.
Profit attributable to equity holders of the company totaled 5.82 billion yuan (about 821.3 million U.S. dollars), a 2.2-percent decrease over the same period of last year, said the report.
Operating revenue in Q1 stood at 94.79 billion yuan, of which service revenue rising 0.7 percent year on year to 92.14 billion yuan, the unaudited financial data showed.
Despite declining subscriber development thanks to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic, the company "firmly grasped the trend of the digital transformation of the economy and society and actively promoted the commercialization of 5G," said the report.
By the end of March, mobile subscribers of the company totaled 336.55 million, of which the number of 5G subscribers rose to 16.61 million.
"The company actively grasped the new informatization demand generated during the epidemic," said the report, citing revenue growth generated from smart family applications and cloud services.
In the future, China Telecom will accelerate the promotion of co-building and co-sharing the 5G network, according to the company. Enditem
