China Mobile Ltd said today its revenue jumped 20.9 percent last year, driven by a boost in new subscribers, the company said on its Website today.

Turnover of the world's largest wireless operator by network capacity and subscriber base reached 357 billion yuan (US$50.36 million) in 2007 from a year ago, the company said in a statement.

Full-year profit climbed 32 percent to 87.1 billion yuan, China Mobile said in the statement. Sales rose 21 percent to 357 billion yuan, the statement said.

The total number of subscribers climbed 22.6 percent to 369.34 million by the end of last year, with a net increase of 68.11 million subscribers, according to the statement.

China Mobile gained subscribers after it stopped charging users for receiving calls and signed up more people in the smaller towns and villages, where the average annual income is a third of urban areas. The company controls two thirds of the nation's wireless market and is attempting to increase customers before the government's planned reorganization of the industry.

The company's shares doubled last year in Hong Kong, making it the world's most valuable mobile-phone company.

"In 2007, the steady growth of China's economy and the boom in demand for telecommunications services continued to create a prosperous environment for the group,'' Wang Jianzhou, China Mobile's chairman, said in the statement.

China's economy expanded 11.4 percent last year, the fastest growth in 13 years. The country's retail sales added 16.8 percent in 2007, powered by a boost in incomes that climbed 17.2 percent in urban areas and 15.4 percent in rural areas.

China added 8.5 million mobile-phone subscribers for a total of 555.8 million by the end of January, according to official data.

(Shanghai Daily March 19, 2008)