China Mobile reports first quarter results; 37% rise in profits

The world's largest mobile phone operator by the number of subscribers, China Mobile, reported first quarter results. As expected, they rock, again. Highlights:

• Profits reached 24.1 billion yuan (US$3.4 billion), a 37% rise over the year-earlier.
• Net income jumped from 17.6 billion yuan the previous year to beat average analyst estimates of around 23.6 billion yuan.
• Sales rose 20% to 93.02 billion yuan.
• Total number of subscribers rose by a record 22.8 million to reach 392.1 million, suggesting that China Mobile added more than 7 million new customers a month.
• On the downside, ARPU fell from 85 to 82 yuan due to the mobile operator's expansion into rural areas.

Finally, according to China Mobile's CEO Wang Jianzhou, they managed to win subscribers from two fixed-line players, China Telecom and China Netcom, as more and more customers switched to mobile. [Via: Bloomberg ] --- Related Articles at IntoMobile:

• Nokia officially hits 40% global market share; 437.1 million devices shipped in 2007
• T-mobile USA reports strong Q2 for 2007
• Merrill Lynch analyst says Nokia's 4Q results will be disappointing
• AT&T 1Q 2008 revenue, net income, profits way up
• China Mobile still considering Apple partnership for iPhone