(Yicai Global) Aug. 10 -- China Mobile Ltd. [HK:0941], one of the Chinese big three telecoms companies, reported strong performance for the first half, with net profit rising 3.5 percent annually to USD9.4 billion (CNY62.7 billion). The firm will pay out a dividend of USD0.61 (HKD4.82) per share. Its stock price was up by more than 5 percent during trading today on the news.

The mobile carrier's revenue was CNY388.9 billion in the first six months of this year, up 5 percent from a year ago, per financial data released by the group today. In addition to an interim dividend of HKD1.62 per share, the firm will hand out a special dividend of HKD3.2 per share to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its listing.

The number of the enterprise's mobile phone customers increased by 17.61 million to 867 million at the end of June. Subscribers to its 4G mobile network rose by 58.62 million to 594 million at the end of June, accounting for 69 percent of its subscribers. China Mobile has 1.65 million 4G base stations and expects to add 100 million 4G users this year.

Mobile data traffic used by its 4G subscribers reached 1.4 gigabytes per user per month in the first half, an increase of 107.5 percent from a year ago.

China Mobile's broadband business also developed well. Its broadband users increased by 15.42 million to 93.04 million at the end of June. That figure is set to surpass 100 million by the year end. Its broadband business revenue grew 49.8 percent annually to CNY17.9 billion in the period.