Telecom firms post growth in earnings

The total revenue of the country's three telecommunication operators amounted to 1.4 trillion yuan ($223 billion) last year, with net profit reaching 133.3 billion yuan owning to strong demand for faster wireless data services.

China Telecom Corp Ltd said on Wednesday its net profit was 18.6 billion yuan in 2017, a 3.3 percent rise compared with the previous year. Its revenue rose 3.9 percent to 366.2 billion yuan, with 4G mobile subscriber numbers growing to 182 million.

China Mobile Communications Corp, the world's largest mobile carrier by subscribers, last week reported its net profit was 114.3 billion yuan compared with 108.7 billion yuan a year earlier, an increase of 5.1 percent, while its total operating revenue rose 4.5 percent to 740.5 billion yuan.