China Mobile 2010 net profit up 3.9pc

HONG KONG, Mar 16 (Xinhua): China Mobile, the world's largest mobile network operator by subscribers, said Wednesday its net profit rose 3.9 per cent last year to 119.64 billion yuan (about 18. 20 billion US dollars). Revenue for the 12 months ended Dec 31, 2010, rose 7.3 per cent to 485.2 billion yuan. China Mobile recommended a final dividend of 1.597 HK dollars a share, up from 1.458 HK dollars a year earlier. China Mobile said in its annual results that the group's total customer base reached 584 million by the end of 2010, with a net addition of 61.73 million customers. The number of 3G customers reached 20.7 million by the end of 2010, securing the group a leading position in the 3G market. Voice usage volume continued to grow. Total voice usage volume was 3,461.619 billion minutes, up 18.6 per cent over last year. They will continue promoting home-grown innovation, support the parent company in the construction, operation and evolution of 3G as well as accelerate the development of the TD-LTE technology, said the company.