China Mobile Ltd (中國移動通信) chief executive officer Li Yue (李躍) said he’s not optimistic about the outlook for improving industry revenue as slower sales from voice calls outweigh the demand for data services spurred by smartphones.
“There are some who think the increase in data usage will lead to growth, but I am not so optimistic,” Li said at the GSMA Mobile Asia Congress conference in Hong Kong yesterday.
The head of the world’s biggest phone carrier by market value said operators need to offer services that integrate well with the daily lives of consumers and businesses.
Li is adding services such as a search-engine for mobile phones and wireless payments to sustain growth at China Mobile, where he took over as chief executive this year.
The Beijing-based carrier last month reported earnings that missed analysts’ estimates after the company boosted marketing spending to win new users.
“Traffic volume for data services has doubled, but our revenue growth has still slowed,” Li said.
Sales rose 7.8 percent to 352.6 billion yuan (US$53.1 billion) in the first nine months, China Mobile reported on Oct. 20.
The carrier posted a 9.8 percent increase in full-year revenue last year.
New users added by the company mainly reside in rural areas, where average spending is lower, the company said in August.
China Mobile last year started Mobile Market, a site where users can download applications that are similar to Apple Inc’s Apps store.
In the first half of this year, 25 million applications were downloaded from the site by China Mobile subscribers, Li said.
Li, who replaced Wang Jianzhou (王建宙) as chief executive in August, said the carrier was also gaining users for new services such as wireless payments and mobile television.
Wang remains chairman of the company.
China Mobile plans to start an Internet search-engine next year, Wang said in September.
However, Li’s outlook for growth contrasted with that of NTT DoCoMo Inc president Ryuji Yamada, who said sales of data services will help lift average user spending at Japan’s biggest mobile-phone carrier.
NTT DoCoMo plans to roll out a new high-speed wireless service — based on the Long Term Evolution technology — next month, Yamada said yesterday at the conference.
The two-day GSMA Mobile Asia Congress ends today.
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