China Mobile reported operating revenue of RMB 538.04 billion in the first half of 2026, down 1.1 percent from RMB 543.77 billion a year earlier, as pressure on traditional communications services offset strong growth in cloud computing, artificial intelligence and international operations.
Main business revenue declined 3.1 percent to RMB 452.66 billion from RMB 466.99 billion. Other business revenue, mainly generated by sales of smartphones and other devices, increased 11.2 percent to RMB 85.37 billion from RMB 76.78 billion.
China Mobile’s net profit decreased 6.3 percent to RMB 78.93 billion from RMB 84.24 billion. EBITDA fell 6.6 percent to RMB 173.63 billion, while the EBITDA margin narrowed to 32.3 percent from 34.2 percent. Net profit margin dropped 0.8 percentage points to 14.7 percent.
China Mobile Subscriber Base Crosses 1.01 Billion
China Mobile ended the first half with 1.011 billion mobile customers after adding 5.88 million subscribers. This was significantly higher than the 560,000 net additions recorded during the first half of 2025.
The number of mobile internet customers reached 895 million, representing a net addition of 11.45 million. Growth in handset data traffic accelerated to 16 percent from 8 percent a year earlier, supported by customer segmentation, larger data allowances and greater network utilisation.
China Mobile reported mobile ARPU of RMB 45.1. The company did not disclose a customer churn rate in its first-half presentation.
For the full year, China Mobile is targeting 10 million net mobile subscriber additions.
Broadband Customers Reach 337 Million
China Mobile’s integrated broadband network customer base increased by 7.70 million to 337 million. Gigabit broadband customers reached 117 million following 8.41 million additions.
The household customer blended ARPU stood at RMB 46.8, while the mobile-broadband integration rate reached 96.3 percent. China Mobile’s Family Network platform had more than 380 million members, and its broader 2B2C membership base reached 215 million.
The operator plans to add 18 million integrated broadband network customers during 2026. Its gigabit network covered 560 million households at the end of the first half.
Communications Revenue Drops 5.7%
Revenue from communications services, covering mobile, broadband, cellular IoT and satellite internet, declined 5.7 percent to RMB 350.42 billion from RMB 371.69 billion.
The operator had 1.511 billion IoT card connections after adding 29.58 million connections. China Mobile also served 33.82 million government and enterprise customers, including 808,000 key accounts.
Despite weakness in conventional connectivity revenue, China Mobile’s expanding mobile, broadband and IoT base provides a large market for bundled cloud, AI and digital services.
Computing Revenue Rises 14% on Cloud and Data Centre Demand
Computing services revenue increased 14 percent to RMB 52.90 billion from RMB 46.42 billion, accounting for 11.7 percent of principal business revenue, up 1.7 percentage points.
Data centre revenue grew 13.2 percent, while AI data centre revenue surged 486.1 percent. China Mobile’s cumulative contracted AI data centre capacity reached 7 GW, including 5 GW of new capacity contracted during the first half.
Cloud computing services revenue increased 18 percent, including a 130.1 percent jump in intelligent computing services revenue. Newly signed intelligent computing projects had a combined contract value exceeding RMB 21 billion.
Revenue from cloud computing applications advanced 5.9 percent, including 14.1 percent growth from China Mobile Cloud Drive.
AI Services Revenue Reaches RMB 49.34 Billion
China Mobile’s AI services revenue increased 0.9 percent to RMB 49.34 billion from RMB 48.88 billion. AI represented 10.9 percent of principal business revenue, up 0.4 percentage points.
Data algorithm revenue rose 6.9 percent, including 12.8 percent growth in revenue from the Jiutian large model. China Mobile has introduced more than 50 industry-specific large models.
Revenue from digital and intelligent culture services increased 12.5 percent. AI Smart Match on MIGU Video generated 360 million cumulative views during the FIFA World Cup.
China Mobile’s Tiangong industrial internet platform served 327,000 business entities and ranked first in the cumulative number of projects included in China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology 5G Factory Directory.
Fintech revenue climbed 116.6 percent. The China Mobile Aigo Smart Living Mall had approximately 83 million monthly active customers.
Digital Platforms Record Strong User Growth
The China Mobile app had 340 million monthly active customers, increasing 25.5 percent. Monthly active users of the Lingxi AI intelligent assistant exceeded 130 million.
China Mobile also recorded cumulative sales of 2.3 million AI-customised devices, while video IoT connections reached 114 million.
More than 90,000 employees actively used digital and intelligent tools. AI handled more than 13 million nighttime customer-service interactions each month, demonstrating the operator’s growing use of automation across network construction, maintenance, marketing, R&D and management.
5G Network Expands to 2.94 Million Base Stations
China Mobile operated 2.94 million 5G base stations, reinforcing its position as one of the world’s largest 5G network operators.
The company’s intelligent computing capacity reached 112,700 FP16 PFLOPS, with utilisation of operational intelligent computing resources exceeding 90 percent. It plans to add more than 48,000 PFLOPS during 2026.
China Mobile also built a high-quality dataset exceeding 4,000 TB. Its Jiutian 4.1 secure multimodal model ranked fourth globally among non-inference models on the Artificial Analysis leaderboard.
China Mobile Capex Rises 4.5% to RMB 61 Billion
Capital expenditure increased 4.5 percent to RMB 61 billion from RMB 58.4 billion. Investment in communications networks declined 9.8 percent to RMB 37.9 billion as China Mobile redirected spending towards computing and AI infrastructure.
Computing-network investment surged 71.3 percent to RMB 15.6 billion, while AI-network investment increased 85.2 percent to RMB 3.7 billion.
R&D expenditure rose 6.5 percent to RMB 13.8 billion from RMB 13 billion. China Mobile is increasing investment in 6G, AI, industrial internet and embodied intelligence while adopting a flexible capex model linked to business demand.
International Revenue Jumps 30.1%
International market revenue increased 30.1 percent to RMB 18.17 billion from RMB 13.97 billion, including the contribution from Hong Kong Broadband Network.
China Mobile served 56.23 million outbound roaming customers, up 5.2 percent, while inbound roaming traffic surged 59.9 percent. The number of Chinese enterprises supported in their global expansion increased 19.6 percent, and overseas capability projects grew 38.6 percent.
The company operated 463 global points of presence and had international transmission capacity of 437 Tbps, representing increases of 17 POPs and 31 Tbps, respectively.
BABURAJAN KIZHAKEDATH
