China Mobile Ltd, the world's biggest phone company by users,
added a record number of customers last month as fixed-line
operator China Telecom Corp lost telephone subscribers for the
third straight month.
About 6.6 million people signed up for China Mobile's services
last month, making a total of 356.3 million, according to the
Beijing-based carrier's website.
That is more than the population of the United States and Canada
combined. China Telecom's total phone subscribers fell by 880,000,
it said in a statement yesterday.
China Telecom and China Netcom Group Corp (Hong Kong) Ltd rose
in Hong Kong trading for the second day after an official said the
fixed-line companies may be granted licenses to provide high-speed
wireless services.
China Mobile's growth may spur the government to speed up the
issuing of third-generation permits to promote competition in the
industry, Bloomberg News reported.
"Mobile substitution is the trend, and there's not much the
fixed-line operators can do," Marvin Lo, a Hong Kong-based analyst
said.
(Shanghai Daily November 21, 2007)
