Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to China Telecom's 2024 Annual Results Investor Briefing. I am Huang Liping, Managing Director of Investor Relations Department. First of all, let me introduce management here today. They are Executive Director, Chairman, and CEO, Mr. Ke Ruiwen. Mr. Tang Ke, Executive Director and EVP. Mr. Li Yinghui, Executive Director, EVP, CFO, and Corporate Strategy. Madam Liu Ying, EVP. Today's session will be divided into two parts. The first one is about the results presentation and Q&A. The meeting will be conducted in Mandarin, and there will be simultaneous interpretation. Please switch your mobile phone to silent mode. Now, we'll invite our Chairman Ke to introduce 2024 full- year results.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to our 2024 annual results presentation. Thank you all for your long-term attention and support. This presentation has two sessions.
I will provide an overview first, and then Mr. Tang Ke will go through the business review and financial performance. There are six development highlights in 2024. First, operating results continue to grow with high-quality development, took solid steps. Second, science and innovation-led industrial innovation with China Telecom Cloud moved towards a new stage of intelligent cloud. Third, deeply commenced development of AI Plus and Quantum Plus to foster strengthen new quality productive forces. Fourth, infrastructure quality enhancement and upgrade to consolidate foundation for intelligent green development. Fifth, reform and open up deepened across the board to continuously enhance innovation and development vitality. Sixth, proactively fulfill social responsibility and continuously create value to reward shareholders. In 2024, the company continued to deeply implement the cloudification and digital transformation strategy.
The company persists in two engines of innovation-led fundamental business and industrial digitization, and deeply empowered product and service innovation and upgrades through elements such as AI. KPIs such as revenue, EBITDA, net profit, and ROE continued to enhance. The company's high-quality development took solid steps. In 2024, the company's service revenue increased by 3.7%, surpassing industry average. Net profit increased by 8.4%, with the growth rate above revenue growth. Market value grew steadily. The company strengthened the breakthroughs in key core technologies and continued to achieve science and innovation breakthroughs. Two projects won the first-class award of the National Science and Technology Progress Award. The company launched renewed service initiatives offering higher quality products and services to customers. Overall customer satisfaction rate remains industry leading. The company comprehensively deepened its reform, achieving Grade A in assessment of key task for central enterprise for frequent service.
The company regards technological innovation as a core connotation of corporate strategy and the fundamental support for high-quality development. The company accelerates the building of a leading technology enterprise, continuously optimizing R&D science and innovation system, increasing inputs in science and innovation R&D, with R&D expense grew by 11.3%. The company specifically formed five key product science and talent structure, including top talent teams with five leading talents and thousands of chief and senior experts. The company focus on four technological directions and continuously to strengthen core technology breakthroughs. Cloud server, operating system, database, and other cloud computing foundation software achieve initial breakthroughs. The company undertook multiple national innovation platforms in cloud computing, quantum, fiber network, and security networks, with an increasing influence in technology.
The company deployed in full strength China Telecom's first technology, Xirang, an intelligent computing service platform, a set system and capabilities integrating computing power, platform data, model, and application, five capabilities in one. It widely access cross-domain heterogeneous and cross-service provider computing power. The company has proprietary and accessible intelligent computing power reach 62 EFLOPS. China Telecom Cloud achieve intelligent cloud updates with Xirang as core. The full- year revenue reached RMB 113.9 billion, representing increase of 17.1%. Xirang achieved multiple core technology breakthroughs and developed the first fully localized 10,000 GPU training solutions in the country. It carries high-quality models and high-quality fixes such as DeepSeek. There is a strong market demand. It completed the first central SOE project of a localized full-size DeepSeek deployment. Its industry position has been further strengthened.
The company grasps AI development directions and deeply engages in AI, broadly empowering the intelligent development of thousands of industries, and achieving prominent results in market expansion. Intelligent revenue amounts to RMB 8.9 billion, almost double year-over-year. The company ranked number six in China's LLM application market. The company established a full mode, full-size, fully localized Xingchen large model, achieving innovative breakthroughs in multiple proprietary technologies. The service capability of Xingchen MaaS platform was continuously enriched, launching over 50 industry models and over 20 industry agents providing one-stop service. The data intelligent core platform fully integrates with AI capability. The data and core platform extends from Hainan to 29 provinces and cities in seven provinces across the country. The company proactively explores using AI to empower in network, namely AI for network, to increase the level of cloud network automation and intelligence, reshape business process, and improve user experience.
It proactively explores a native network intelligence and promote real-time business perception, refined application control, intelligent user identification, and create differential QoS assurance service. At the same time, the company leveraged measures of digitalization, intelligentization, fully promote the intelligent internal digitalization transformation and upgrade. 13 internal large models have been embedded deeply into network operations, sales and channel service, and other 200 production processes covering 400 business scenes, supporting cost reduction, quality improvement, and efficiency enhancement. The company deeply promote Quantum Plus. Technological innovation results continue to emerge. The adoption of industrial applications is accelerating. The company has built 16 quantum metropolitan networks. Tianyan quantum computing cloud platform visits achieved more than 14 million times. The company builds the largest quantum computing cluster in China. Revenue from quantum business grew more than double year-over-year. The company's Quantum Plus product portfolio is getting more enriched.
The infrastructure of quantum security is being more comprehensive. The company has successfully acquired QuantumCTek Co., Ltd., promoting the agglomeration of quantum industry. The company took the lead in the establishment of the Quantum Communication Innovation Consortium, building a tiered, collaborative, and innovative integrated quantum industry ecosystem, and become nationally in the field of quantum information technology. The company fully leverages the advantage of cloud network integration, adhere to a network as a foundation and cloud support. The company grabs the direction of AI development, accelerate the quality enhancement, and upgrade of new digital information infrastructure to empower AI development. In 2024, the company's CapEx was RMB 93.5 billion. The company appropriately advanced the deployment of cloud network infrastructure facing AI.
The building of the two all-liquid cooling clusters with 10,000 GPUs in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, and Yangtze River Delta area, as well as deploying 1,000 GPU pools in key areas, promotes the comprehensive upgrade of ITC to AIDC. The company builds intelligent interconnection network with a high throughput and low latency, demonstrating further advantage of terminal edge cloud coordination. The aerial ground integration network continues to strengthen. In 2025, the company continue to the trend of CapEx optimization. Full- year CapEx planned at RMB 83.6 billion, representing a reduction by 10.6%. The company continued to promote 1248 green development model, implementing multiple measures to build green cloud network infrastructure, and accelerate the green upgrade of traditional facility rooms and base stations. The company accelerate the green upgrade and transformation of traditional facility rooms and base stations, and 28 data centers were rated as national green data centers in total.
The usage of green energy increased by 1.45%. The company proactively commenced AI energy saving and green power consumption. The green gas emission reduced by 19.2%. At the same time, the company launched diversified green products and service, empowering the green and low carbon transformation of economy and society. The company adhered to the comprehensive deepening of reform and focused deepening system mechanism reform focused on areas such as science and innovation, strategic emerging business, talent development, and market-oriented operation, thus accelerate the construction of production relations that are compatible with new productive forces, increasing the level of innovative allocation of various resource elements. By striving breakthroughs in cutting-edge technologies, the company foster the transformation of scientific achievements, deepen corporate reform in the industry and strategic emerging business.
Aggressively advancing deep optimization of the main process, implementing the strategy of strengthening the enterprise with talents, and establishing new operational responsibility system and other reforms measures to continuously enhance corporate vitality. The company actively enhance advanced high-level open cooperation and strengthen the digital transformation service platform to build the ecology landscape of win-win. On one hand, it introduced external resources into the enterprise through open up, and unconditionally advance deep level cooperation in the field of infrastructure, technology and business. On the other hand, it integrates its premium resources, externally open up its cloud network, data capital and other essential capabilities to provide high-quality service. The company proactively fulfilled its social responsibility by providing communication assurance for various important events, leveraging AI capabilities to aid in disaster prevention and relief efforts. It strongly support rural radio station and universal services.
The high-quality development of the company could not be achieved without the long-term support of shareholders, analysts, and the media. We will move forward in hand in hand with everyone as usual, sharing the fruit of development. The board proposed final dividend of RMB 0.0927 per share for the end of the year, with the full- year dividend of 2025 amounts to RMB 0.2598 per share. The payout ratio further increased to 72%. AI is the direction even more, it is a reality. China Telecom will fully embrace AI. We affirm our direction, grabs opportunities, and promote deeply the AI plus action to foster AI applications to empower economic and social development and expedite the building of a world-class enterprise. In 2025, the company will strive to maintain healthy growth in service revenues, EBITDA and net profit, as well as rapid growth in intelligent revenue.
The company will continue to create the corporate value and share the company's development achievements with shareholders. This is the end of our presentation. Next, Mr. Tang Ke will go through the company's business and financial performance. Thank you.
Thank you, Chairman Ke. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. In 2024, each business segment of the company achieved favorable growth. The increase in operating expenses was effectively controlled. The profitability was further enhanced. In 2024, the company adhered to customer-oriented approach, proactively grasped new consumption trends driven by the digital technologies. The company continued to promote speed upgrade, partly by 5G and fiber broadband access, introducing AI to promote scene-based platform and application upgrade, such as along the household brand Beautiful Home to create multiple scene application with one all-fiber network, one intelligent cloud, one Beautiful Home. These are our leading edge in integrated differentiation.
Mobile communication service revenue for the full- year increased by 3.5%, of which mobile value-add service and application revenue increased by 16.1%. Wireless smart family revenue increased by 2.1%, of which smart family revenue increased by 16.8%. Both mobile and broadband ARPU remain stable. In 2024, the company deeply cultivated intelligent digitalization for industries and promote industrial upgrade. Industrial digitization business remain healthy growth, with revenue reaching RMB 146.6 billion, representing an increase of 5.5%. The proprietary digital platform capability continued to enhance with over 125 integrated digital platform and fundamental capabilities deployed in 26,000 projects. The company promoted the integration of intelligent digital application into production scenes of industries, offering enriched solutions in the area of digital economy, digital society, digital government administration. The market share of successful bids across the entire industry maintained leadership.
In 2024, the China Telecom Cloud fully leverages multiple advantages in terms of its cloud network integration, cloud intelligent integration, self-reliant and controllable, secure and reliable to meet the urgent needs of application scenes, and achieve continuous growth in customer and revenue scale. The number of 2B+ numbers exceeds 4.9 million. Various benchmark projects were widely recognized by the market. The company achieved leading general intelligent supercomputing power integration. It has a unified foundation of general computing, intelligent computing, supercomputing power, and unified scheduler. The company also lead in full-stack self-developed product capability. The two foundations serve server operating system and database achieved important breakthroughs. The company continued to optimize cloud internet intelligent integrated computing power infrastructure layer. IDC capacity upgrade to AI DC will further reach RMB 33 billion, increase 7.3%. The company's AI big data application continued to expand, empowering the digital transformation development of the society.
The industry models in the field such as healthcare, agriculture, and smart cities have been applied in scale, serving more than 10,000 scene-based customers. Xinghai Big Data platform model training dataset exceeds 9 trillion token with more than 4,500 data points. The enriched product offering promotes the increasing prosperity of the industry ecology. On the consumer side, the company proactively fostered the integration of AI technology with various kind of terminals. The company was the first in the industry to launch 5G all-in-one machine, offering intelligent computing solutions with excellent performance, secure and controllable. AI handset was built in Shenzhen Speech and Language General Large Models. The company use AI home screens to build AI home agents. Cloud computer embedded basic model capability, realizing intelligent upgrade of office and administration applications. The new business form of AI terminals is flourishing. The company offer SaaS-based security service in 157 cities.
The entire network traffic cleaning capability of anti-DDoS Cloud Dam reach 16.3 Tbps. The number of customers of Cloud Dam security managed service exceed 1,500. Security Brain 4.0 was deeply integrated with the self-developed security large model, Tianyan, with cumulative sales of 500,000 lines. Revenue from security service increased by 17.2% in terms of S growth. Quantum Plus product series serve over 2,000 VIP industries customers. The number of quantum encrypted messaging and call services is more than 5 million. The company creates a bunch of innovative application role models with the integration of quantum technologies and industries with industry-leading scale development. The company rapidly developed its new generation of information and communication business, with cumulative 5G to-B industry application project exceed 45,000. Through the creation of high-quality video datasets, the IoVT integrated models of video data governance.
Hundreds of AI+ visual enhancement use case like security, smart AI, kitchen monitoring was launched. Revenue was increased by 40%. In the view of low-altitude economy, the company has built one network, two systems, three platforms and end applications capabilities, efficiently wide area coverage, low-attitude communication network, a highly intelligent, low-attitude cognitive network, and high performance, low-attitude computing network. It can have more than 60 application scenes and launch over 100 projects. Our IoT platform equipped with online sensing and control capabilities of billion connections. Our self-developed smart cockpit large models was commercially used officially, satisfying the demand of the autonomous driving and R&D simulation. The contract value of IoV increased 2.5x . Satellite communication revenue increased by 71%, with handsets direct to satellite subscribers exceeding 2.4 million. The company's international business maintained rapid growth. Revenue for the full- year reached RMB 16.9 billion, increased by 15.4%.
Overseas strategic emerging businesses achieved multiple breakthroughs, with overseas cloud business revenue doubled. The overseas IoV connection exceeding 600,000. Overseas projects such as quantum satellite, IoVT made new progress. The global cloud network capability deployment accelerate. IDC and submarine cable resources deployment has been surveyed in hotspot areas along the Belt and Road. The global business coverage direction exceed 260. The company strengthened the precision management and controlling resources input, increased inputs in key areas, strengthened the breakthrough in core technologies and promote rapid development of strategic emerging business. The company strengthened tech and innovative talent teams with AI technology measures and utilization efficiency of resources used was increased, supporting high quality development. The OpEx growth was 2.8% lower than that of operating revenue by 0.3 percentage points. In 2024, the company continued to strengthen its financial strength with EBITDA increasing by 2.9% year-over-year.
The free cash flow increased by 70.7%. The capital structure remained healthy, with corporate rating ranked as the highest AAA grade. This is the end of the presentation. Thank you.