BEIJING, April 28 -- China Telecom's net profits in the first quarter of 2015 fell 9 percent from the same period last year to 5.04 billion yuan (827.21 million U.S. dollars) due to the country's tax reforms, the company reported on Tuesday.

Its revenue shrank 2.1 percent year on year to 81.45 billion yuan in the first quarter, said China Telecom, the largest fixed-line service and a key mobile telecommunication provider.

Its number of subscribers expanded by 3.2 million to 189 million in the quarter.

China extended its new value-added tax to the telecom sector to replace a business tax on June 1.