China Mobile sees user revenue, margins under pressure

Posted 08 21 2009 4:37PM

HONG KONG (Reuters) – China Mobile (0941.HK), the world's largest mobile carrier by subscribers, said on Thursday that its average revenue per user (ARPU) would trend downward in the second half, as competition heats up in the market.

The company also said it would not be able to maintain its industry-beating EBITDA margins indefinitely, as rivals China Unicom (0762.HK) and China Telecom (0728.HK) were aggressively marketed their new third-generation (3G) mobile services.

"We can't preserve such a (high) margin for the long term," Chief Financial Officer Xue Taohai told a media briefing on the company's interim results.

The company added that its state-run parent would sell existing shares in its future plan to list in China, rather than issue new shares, to avoid dilution for holders of its Hong Kong-listed shares.

(Reporting by Joanne Chiu and Doug Young; Editing by Chris Lewis)