China Telecom has reported [PDF] a 3.3% increase in net profit for 2017 on the back of strong subscriber growth.
The operator earned a profit of 18.67 billion yuan ($2.96 billion), from 3.9% higher operating revenue of 366.23 billion yuan.
Service revenue grew 6.9% to 331.04 billion yuan, with mobile revenue up 11.7% to 153.77 billion yuan but wireline revenue increasing by a more modest 3% to 177.26 billion yuan.
China Telecom doubled its mobile subscriber growth for the year to 34.96 million net additions, taking its total mobile customer base to 250 million, for a market share of around 17.6%. Total 4G customers increased by 60.17 million to 182.04 million.
The operator's wireline broadband subscriber base meanwhile increased by 10.4 million to 134 million, with the proportion of these on 100Mbps or higher plans nearly doubling to 50%. FTTH net additions were 20.18 million and total subscribers were 126.17 million The company's fledgling IoT business also saw a 200% increase in connected devices.
Announcing its results, China Telecom chairman Jie Yang said the company plans to pursue further supply-stride structural reform and accelerate its digital transformation going forwards.
Key priorities include the internet of everything, human computer integration and integration of satellite with existing networks, he said.