Profit and customers rise at China Unicom

Telecoms giant China Unicom (0762) posted a 19.4 percent increase year-on-year in net profit to 12.9 billion yuan (HK$15.68 billion) in the first nine months.

Total revenue for the period went up by 8.5 percent to 244.5 billion yuan. Service revenue was 222.4 billion yuan, rising 7.3 percent from a year ago.

Its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization also rose 2.2 percent to 75.3 billion yuan.

In the first three quarters, the company's mobile billing subscribers registered a net addition of 9.74 million, reaching a total of 316 million.

The 5G package subscribers increased by 66.12 million to 137 million, driving mobile billing subscribers' average revenue per user to increase by 6.3 percent year-on-year to 44.3 yuan.

The telecom company's fixed-line broadband subscribers registered a net increase of 6.9 million in the first nine months, making a total of 93 million. As a result, fixed-line broadband access revenue increased 3.9 percent to 33.34 billion yuan.

Costs also jumped as income grew, with operation and support expenses up by 14 percent year-on-year.