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China Netcom sees profit dip

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-08-24 17:02

China's major telecommunications operator China Network Communications (CNC) recorded a 7.7 percent dip in profit in the first half of 2006, its first fall in profit since its listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in late 2004.

CNC's net profit in the first six months totaled 7.09 billion yuan (890 million U.S. dollars), Xinhua-run Shanghai Securities News quoted its interim report as saying on Wednesday.

The decline in CNC's profits had been expected by investors with China's ever expanding population of mobile phone users slowly eating away the customer base of CNC, which is the country's second largest fixed-line operator, the report said.

The interim report shows that CNC had about 120 million subscribers at the end of June, up 4.7 percent year on year.

Its total revenue in the first half year was 43.18 billion yuan (5.42 billion dollars), up 0.95 percent on the same period of 2005. CNC's revenues from local and long-distance calls declined by 6.6 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively.

CNC chairman Zhang Chunjiang said at the release of the interim report that his company would focus on new services such as IPTV in the future.

The company's Chief Executive Officer, Zuo Xunsheng, said he is confident that CNC will obtain a license for 3G services.