Telecom firm sees marginal decline in revenue

China Mobile Communications Corp, the world's largest mobile carrier by subscribers, announced its operating revenues for the first three quarters of 2018 dipped 0.3 percent year-on-year to 567.7 billion yuan ($81.8 billion), the company's first decline in nearly four years.

But, its data traffic business surged with a 172 percent year-on-year increase in handset data traffic in the period. Profit for the January to September period also maintained momentum with 3.1 percent year-on-year growth to hit 95 billion yuan, the company said.

Revenues from products sales jumped 9 percent year-on-year to reach 49.3 billion for the first three quarters, and the company forecast stable revenue growth for the full year in a statement released on Monday.