China Telecom’s interim net profit rose 10.2% on year, dividend payout ratio at 65%

 

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China Telecom saw its interim net profit rise by 10.2% 20.2 billion yuan from a year ago and declared an interim dividend of 14.32 fen.

The dividend payout ratio stood at 65% in the first half of this year and the telecom giant reaffirmed its commitment to increase the ratio to above 70% this year.

Operating revenue in the first half grew 7.6% to 260.7 billion yuan. Of this, service revenue amounted to 236 billion yuan, up 6.6% year-on-year, remaining above the industry’s growth rate, it said.

Mobile communications service revenue rose 2.7% to 101.6 billion, among which income from mobile value-added and applications jumped 19.4% to 15.4 billion yuan.

The number of mobile subscribers reached 402 million in June, a net increase of 10.73 million for the first half. The penetration rate of 5G package subscribers reached 73.4% while the average revenue per user among mobile subscribers inched up 0.4% to 46.2 yuan.