China Telecom Corp Ltd said on Thursday that its third-quarter net profit rose 47 percent, as a surge in revenue from mobile and broadband services offset declining fixed-line phone users, Reuters reported.
China Telecom reported a third-quarter net profit of 3.5 billion yuan ($523 million), versus 2.39 billion yuan a year earlier and in line with a forecast of 3.63 billion yuan, according to the average of a poll of three analysts.
China Telecom, a newcomer to China's mobile market, the world's largest, operates the country's largest fixed-line network and is aggressively promoting broadband over that channel.
Analysts said rising broadband subscriber growth should offset and ease the decline of revenue from its maturing fixed-line voice business.
China Telecom shares are up about 28 percent this year, outperforming a 6 percent rise on the benchmark Hang Seng Index.
