Company says returns from 4G elusive so far

Heavy investment in the fourth-generation network might not bring returns for China Mobile Ltd in the near future, analysts said. It was the only one of the nation's three telecom giants to see first-quarter profits decline.

China Mobile, the country's largest network carrier by subscribers, said first-quarter profit sank 9.4 percent year-on-year to 25.2 billion yuan ($4 billion).

Rivals China Unicom Ltd and China Telecom Corp Ltd, the second- and third-largest mobile carriers by subscribers, saw profits jump 74 percent and 17.9 percent, respectively.