(Yicai Global) Aug. 10 -- China Mobile, one of the country's big three carriers, posted a 4.7 percent rise in profit for the first half buoyed by a bump in user numbers.

Net income was CNY65.6 billion (USD9.6 billion) for the first six months, compared with a year earlier, the Beijing-based firm said in a statement. Operating revenue climbed 2.9 percent to CNY391.8 billion, three-quarters of which was derived from the individual mobile users.

The results are at the top end of a range of institutional estimates that had put the firm's net profit between CNY62.8 billion and CNY65.19 billion, state-backed news outlet The Paper reported.

China Mobile added 27.3 million new 4G subscribers in the first half as it returned to growth in the data traffic market. The firm also added 190,000 new base stations as handset data traffic rose 150 percent in the period.

Despite the jump in traffic, Chairman Shang Bing said average revenue per user, a key indicator of profitability in the telecoms sector, declined in the first half and would continue to do so. He blamed unlimited data plans, the removal of provincial roaming charges in China, as well as the use of dual-sim handsets among its customers. The ARPU was down 6.6 percent on the same period last year at CNY52 (US7.6).

"In this increasingly competitive industry, unlimited data plans reign over the mobile market, and the value of data traffic is reducing rapidly," Shang said. "We stand to take a bigger hit as we hold a larger data traffic market share." He pointed out that the carrier has the largest market share nationally in terms of 4G users and has been cautious when it comes to bringing in unlimited data plans, preferring to focus on the long-term sustainability of the industry instead.

Shares in China Mobile [HK:0941] closed up 1.7 percent at HKD71 (USD9) in yesterday's trading following the earnings call. They traded up 0.6 percent at HKD71.75 as of 2.30 p.m. Beijing time today.

Editor: William Clegg