China Mobile H1 2026 Revenue Falls 1.1% to RMB 538 Billion, Net Profit Down 6.3%

In the first half of 2026, China Mobile recorded operating revenue of RMB 538 billion, down 1.1% year-on-year, and net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company of RMB 78.9 billion, down 6.3% year-on-year. Revenue from traditional telecommunications services was RMB 350.4 billion, down 5.7% year-on-year. Within this, wireless internet revenue contracted to RMB 174.342 billion from RMB 195.489 billion in the first half of 2025. Voice services and SMS & MMS revenue also continued their downward trend.

During the period, the company's mobile customer base reached 1.01 billion, with a net addition of 5.88 million; broadband customers totalled 337 million, with a net addition of 7.7 million; IoT card connections reached 1.51 billion, with a net addition of 29.58 million; and mobile internet traffic grew 16% year-on-year.

China Mobile declared an interim dividend of RMB 2.51 per share for 2026, up 0.3% year-on-year. The dividend payout in Hong Kong dollars was HKD 2.9003 per share, up 5.5% year-on-year. As of the close on 14 August, China Mobile's H-share price was HKD 82.050 per share, and its A-share price was RMB 97.71.

Amid the challenge of "revenue growth not keeping pace with volume" in traditional businesses, China Mobile is pivoting to AI and computing power as new growth directions. The company has designated smart services, computing services, and telecommunications services as its core businesses, and adopted a "smart-first" strategy. In the first half, it established a Computing Office and a Token Office, optimised the roles of its mobile cloud company and Jiutian AI technology company, and directed new capital expenditure primarily toward AI infrastructure and AI technology innovation.

In AI infrastructure, the company's AIDC revenue surged 486% year-on-year in the first half of 2026, while intelligent computing services revenue rose 130%. Revenue from data and algorithms also posted strong growth. The service system is advancing along two main lines: individual consumers and enterprise markets. For individual customers, digital-intelligent culture revenue grew 12.5%, and during the FIFA World Cup in the US, Mexico, and Canada, Migu Video's AI-powered smart viewing reached 360 million person-times. For the government and enterprise market, the "Mobile Tiangong" industrial internet platform has served 327,000 physical enterprises. Additionally, the company has made equity investments across the full AI industry chain, covering chip design, smart hardware, and large language models.