China Mobile Invests US$14m in GPRSChina Mobile (Hong Kong) Ltd chairman Wang Xiaochu said the company has invested about US$14 million general packet radio service (GPRS) development."China Mobile has started a trial launch in 22 cities in China, serving about 3,000 users. The trial GPRS plan is proceeding very smoothly," Wang said. The 22 cities include Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, he said. Wang declined to reveal when the company will have a commercial launch of its GPRS services. "We have to build a commercial operation model before a formal launch," Wang said. As for its 3G mobile phone business development, Wang said China Mobile remains cautious about the new business. "We are watching closely the progress of other mobile phone operators' 3G development before any decision is made on the 3G business. I can say they are experiments for China Mobile (on 3G)," Wang said. Meanwhile, Wang said the company is not worried about the decline in its average revenue per user (ARPU). In the first half, China Mobile's ARPU fell to 158 yuan (US$18.16) from 221 yuan (US$25.402) at end-December. "While the ARPU is falling, the average expense per user (AEPU) is also falling. The pace of the AEPU decline is larger than the pace of ARPU," Wang said. "As long as AEPU continues to decline, there is room for ARPU to fall as well." Wang said the company is planning to maintain its EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) margin at a "reasonable" level of around 50 percent over the next five years. In the six months to June, the EBITDA margin stood at 59.7 percent. "Compared with the average of 30-40 percent of other mobile phone operators in the world, the 59.7 percent is a little bit too high. We are hoping to maintain the margin at a reasonable level," Wang said. |
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