China Telecom adds 2.08 mln CMDA users in Aug

Sep. 22, 2009 (China Knowledge) - China Telecom Corp Ltd<0728><CHA>, the nation's largest fixed-line operator, added 2.08 million CDMA subscribers in August, compared with 2.45 million in July, sources reported.

The telecom carrier had a total of 43.81 million CDMA subscribers at the end of last month.

China Telecom attracted 690,000 new broadband subscribers last month, after getting 820,000 new users in the prior month.

In the first eight months of the year, the company added 15.9 million mobile subscribers and 6.29 broadband subscribers.

However, the number of users of local access line services dropped by 1.52 million to 196.17 million in August. The company reported a net loss of 1.67 million users in July.

China Telecom's first-half net profit dropped 29% from RMB 12.63 billion last year to RMB 9 billion this year, dragged down by spending on mobile phone promotion and 3G network construction. However, the company believes that its marketing initiatives will be beneficial even though they put pressure on short-term profitability, China Telecom's CEO Wang Xiaochu said, China Knowledge reported earlier.