Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to China Mobile Limited's 2023 interim results presentation. In today's presentation, I will first brief you on our overall results for the first half of 2023. Mr. Dong Xin, our CEO, will talk about our operating performance. Finally, Mr. Li Ronghua, our CFO, will walk you through our financial results. Our overall performance for the first half of 2023 can be summarized into six main areas. First, we achieved favorable business performance. Second, we obtained remarkable results in business transformation. Third, we strongly promoted the Two New Elements. Fourth, we continued to advance in-depth reforms and innovation. Fifth, we steadily increased dividend payment, and sixth, we are committed to becoming world-class. By way of reference, we have provided results of key performance indicators for the first half of 2023 in this table.
In the first half of 2023, despite various difficulties and challenges brought about by insufficient macro demand and complex external environment, we worked closely together as a solid team to seize the valuable opportunities emerging from the flourishing digital economy, deepening the implementation of the World-Class Powerhouse Development Strategy. We recorded favorable business results and made steady enhancements to quality of growth, laying a solid foundation for achieving our full year targets. Operating revenue amounted to CNY 530.7 billion, up by 6.8% year-on-year. CHBN markets grew across the board. Net profit reached CNY 76.2 billion, up by 8.4% year-on-year. Net profit as a percentage of service revenue remained at a high level, with persistent growth. The company delivered excellent performance by overall strength.
Specifically, we ranked the first amongst global telecom operators in terms of revenue size, customer base, and network scale. We were in the leading position amongst global operators in terms of innovation capability, brand value, profitability, and market capitalization. The company achieved remarkable results in business transformation. HBN revenue accounted for 42.7% of service revenue, up by 11.3 percentage points over the past three years, indicating further optimization of the revenue structure. New businesses grew rapidly, with revenues from benefit products, smart home value-added businesses, and DICT all growing at a rate of over 20%. Our digital transformation revenue increased by 19.6% year-on-year and reached CNY 132.6 billion. It contributed 84.1% of the incremental service revenue. As a percentage of service revenue, it increased to 29.3%.
These numbers have underscored the value contribution of digital transformation as our second curve of revenue growth. We systematically built our new information infrastructure centering around 5G, Computing Force Network, and Capability Middle Platform . In the first half of 2023, we spent an overall CapEx of CNY 81.4 billion. We maintained comprehensive leadership in the dual gigabit network. In the first half of 2023, our investments in 5G network totaled CNY 42.3 billion. Cumulatively to the end of June 2023, we have put into use 1.761 million 5G base stations, and our gigabit coverage has reached 370 million households. Our data centers covered all the hubs and nodes corresponding to the national Eastern Data and Western Computing strategy.
We have 478,000 IDC cabinets available for external use and cumulatively more than 804,000 computing force servers for deployment, representing total computing capacity of 9.4 EFLOPS. We researched and developed our own CFN brain and the network-connected computing force platform, and our CFN brain was amongst the first batch to pass the autonomous CFN brain intelligence certification by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology. A number of network-connected computing force projects were launched, and we have integrated and managed the computing force of more than 10 enterprises. We continued to expand applications of Capability Middle Platform and launched 944 capabilities. These capabilities have been deployed 40.2 billion times per month on average.
Through commercialization of the capabilities and cost savings from deploying them internally, we generated a value of more than HKD 10 billion in the first half of 2023. The company continued to mine the value of big data and emphasized the application of big data throughout enterprise production and operations. In the first half of 2023, we generated big data revenue of HKD 2.56 billion, or a year-on-year increase of 56.6%. The company innovatively created a new information services system equipped with connectivity, computing force, and capability. We have significantly strengthened our capability of information services offering. For connectivity, total connections reached 3.19 billion, following a net addition of 250 million. We saw stable and healthy growth in the values of mobile customers and household customers, and rapid growth in business market revenue.
We have continuously strengthened our foundation of development. For computing force, we sped up the making of computing force faucets. For the mass market, we have introduced the 3+2+1 product system for computing force terminals. For the business market, we have creatively launched standard products such as cloud space and cloud desktop, and expanded application scenarios such as Eastern Data and Western Computing, computing-network integration, intelligent computing, and network-connected computing force, steadily developing our computing force services. For capability, we have operated and promoted our capability supermarket, creating the Jiutian AI Platform that builds on our strengths as a telecom operator and offering industrial-level intelligent service capabilities ranging from algorithms, platforms, and capabilities to large-scale applications, including over 370 AI capabilities in machine vision, natural language processing, and other fields.
We also launched the Jiutian Massive Computing for Public Administration large model and the Jiutian Customer Service large model, which helped support the digitalization and integration of various industries. In addition, we also made breakthroughs in various capabilities, including industry video and Mobile Authentication. Building on the Unified Five Rings Strategy , we further implemented our innovation strategy by increasing our efforts to encourage innovation and develop talent, and actively developing a collaborative and open ecosystem. We have continuously strengthened our technological innovation capabilities. First, we maintained a leading position in the origination of innovative strategies in fields such as 5G, CFN, and 6G. Second, we achieved breakthroughs and advancements in core digital intelligent technologies such as basic chips, blockchain, security, and the DSSN.
Third, we continuously enhance the innovation cooperation ecosystem through being the leader of the modern industrial chain and through other initiatives such as 5G Innovation Consortium and Joint Innovation Plus Scheme. Our next step will be making systematic innovation initiatives on six areas, namely CFN, AI, 6G, big data, Capability Middle Platform , and security, thus promoting quality enhancements and upgrades of our two elements. The company made solid progress in enterprise reforms. We continuously extended reforms to mechanisms and systems. Two subsidiaries have been included in the expanded technology company development program initiated by the SASAC. We have launched an initiative to create specialized, premium, unique, and new products and capabilities, and the first priority teams to join the initiative have completed their selection and training. We have further optimized the mechanisms of operations of our subsidiaries. We persistently enhanced our scientific management level.
We optimized the collaboration mechanism between headquarters, regional companies, and specialized teams, strengthened customer experience-based service quality standards, and promoted the in-depth implementation of the Compliance Escort Plan. We effectively invigorated innovation and creation. We appointed chief scientists, built a team of high-performing engineers, and strengthened the talent pool of outstanding young technology talent. We tailored incentive schemes for different grades and different nature of work, and improved the quality and coverage of our mid to long-term incentive schemes through share options, dividends, and other forms of incentives. We extensively reinforced and expanded the open and collaborative ecosystem. We conducted strategic cooperation, capital cooperation, ecological cooperation, and other approaches to extensively develop the digital and intelligent ecosystem with a focus on the Two New Elements.
To create higher returns for our shareholders and share the results of our growth, after giving full consideration to the company's profitability, cash flow generation, and future development needs, the company has decided to pay HKD 2.43 per share for the 2023 interim dividend, representing an increase of 10.5% year-on-year. The profit to be distributed in cash in the full year of 2023 will increase to 70% or above of the profit attributable to equity shareholders of the company for that year. The company will strive to create more value for shareholders. We continuously improved ESG management. For corporate governance, we continuously optimized our governance mechanisms, placing steadfast efforts to enhance our compliance management capabilities, and strengthening our risk and internal control management system.
To fulfill social responsibilities, we promoted digital revitalization in villages, supported coordinated regional development, ensured communications for occasions such as major events, emergency rescues, and disaster relief, and built a secure and clean cyberspace. For environmental protection, we have practiced green and low-carbon operations, supported energy conservation and environmental protection initiatives in society, and made proactive efforts to achieve the goal of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. The company has won widespread recognition for its overall performance and has recently ranked first on China Media Group's list of top 100 ESG pioneers amongst listed companies in China.
The rapid development and continued integration of next-generation information technologies such as 5G, cloud computing, big data, and AI, are leading to new trends of systematic innovation and becoming increasingly integrated into all aspects of the economy, society, and everyday life, leading to the emergence of new industries and models such as autonomous driving, unmanned factories, and metaverse. The new wave of technological innovation has created more opportunities for industry development, but also put higher demands on the transformation of traditional business models. Not only do we face valuable development opportunities, but also uncertainties stemming from factors such as a complex and rapidly changing business landscape and intense competition from multiple entities. Faced with a new business environment and new opportunities, we will fully, accurately, and comprehensively align with new principles to ensure we contribute to the new development paradigm.
We will firmly adhere to and creatively implement our 1-2-2-5 strategy with precision. We will accelerate the construction of a new growth model driven by innovation and establish a world-class powerhouse to a high standard, breaking new ground as we become a world-class information services and Sci-Tech innovation enterprise. By doing so, we will continue to bring more value to our shareholders and customers. This concludes my presentation. I would now invite Mr. Dong Xin to give you an overview of our operating performance.
Thank you, Chairman Yang. I will now present our operating performance in the first half of 2023. In the first half of 2023, CHBN markets recorded all-round growth. Revenue figures of the CHBN markets are presented in this table for your reference. For the customer market, we strengthened the integration of data access, applications, and customer benefits.
Our customer base and value are steadily increasing. As of the end of June 2023, our mobile customer base reached 985 million, with a net addition of 10.38 million. Mobile ARPU amounted to HKD 52.4. Revenue from the customer market increased by 1.3% to HKD 259.4 billion. Integrated operation of customer benefits yielded notable results, with the number of customers using our benefit products reaching 326 million, a net addition of 38.85 million customers. Our M-Zone Mango Card was hugely popular amongst young customers. For the home market, we captured the value potential of full gigabit network and cloud-based applications and recorded favorable growth in both customer base and revenue.
Household broadband customers reached 255 million, or a net increase of 11.15 million, leading the industry in terms of net add. Household customer blended ARPU reached CNY 43.3. Revenue from the home market increased by 9.3% to CNY 64.9 billion. Household gigabit broadband customers reached 60.36 million, or a net increase of 22.02 million. Contribution from key smart home products continued to increase. The number of smart home network deployment and home security customers increased by 50% and 41% respectively. HDICT solutions have attracted 20.88 million users. For the business market, we focused our efforts on the integrated scale development of network, cloud, and DICT, data, information, and communications technology, and maintained an industry-leading position in terms of revenue growth.
5G has given rise to digitalization of industries. Revenue from the business market reached HKD 104.4 billion, up by 14.6%. There were more than 25,000 5G commercial projects across multiple sectors, driving the value of DICT contracts to HKD 20.9 billion in the first half of 2023. We introduced scenario-based dedicated networks, 3 types, and lightweight dedicated networks, 2 types, at the same time, and the revenue from our 5G dedicated network reached HKD 2.5 billion, an increase of 69.7%. We further deepened the development in the new To V and toG markets, forged partnerships with nine of the top ten new energy brands in China, and secured more than 1,000 digital governmental projects with contract values exceeding HKD 3 million each.
For the new market, we continued to proactively advance the development of international business, equity investment, digital content, and financial technology. Revenue from the new market increased by 18.4% to CNY 23.5 billion, amongst which international business revenue reached CNY 10.1 billion and digital content revenue reached CNY 13 billion. Our financial services served around 600 partners upstream and downstream of the industry chain. We also strengthened industry synergy in areas such as digital content. Our newly added equity investment amounted to CNY 2.09 billion in the first half of 2023. We further strengthened our product portfolio and competitiveness with a coordinated product release series beginning to take shape. In the mass market, seven of our products led the industry by customer base, and 16 products have each exceeded 100 million customers.
In the business market, 5 and 12 of our products have generated annual revenue of more than RMB 10 billion and more than RMB 1 billion respectively. We also launched various new products, such as cloud computer and cloud space, which gained positive responses from the market. We are speeding up the launch of new products such as 5G New Calling and Naked-Eye 3D , with enhanced functionalities. We will launch these new products to the market as soon as possible. Going forward, we will continue to put efforts in providing computing force services to the general public and developing AI smart application, Capability Middle Platform , and other fields. We will strive to better satisfy the needs for a bright digital life for all sectors in society and for efficient production management.
We adhered to our 5 integrated development strategy of cloud network, cloud edge, cloud data, cloud intelligence, and cloud security, promoted the coordinated development of our PaaS, SaaS. We have strengthened our foundation and expanded our services. We optimized the hierarchical structure of our 4+N+31+X computing force and comprehensively developed a three-tiered computing latency range with 20 millisecond latency for nationwide transmission, 5 millisecond latency for provincial transmission, and 1 millisecond latency for prefectural transmission. Revenue from Mobile Cloud reached RMB 42.2 billion, an increase of 80.5% year-on-year. We had over 20 products reaching the 100 million level. In the second half of the year, we will concentrate on innovative development and continue to promote the Two New Elements development strategy to ensure the achievement of our annual goals.
We will also deepen our scientific management practices, laying a solid foundation for future development. We have listed our major full year business targets on this slide for your reference. Let me turn it over to Mr. Li Ronghua for financial performance. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Dong. I would like to present our 2023 interim financial results to you. In the first half of 2023, we continued to promote our transformational development and recorded favorable growth in both revenue and profit. Operating revenue was CNY 530.7 billion, up by 6.8% year-on-year. Of which, telecommunication service revenue was CNY 452.2 billion, up by 6.1% year-on-year. Revenue from sales of products and others amounted to CNY 78.5 billion, up by 11.3% year-on-year.
While we continued to strengthen cost management, we have appropriately increased our investment to promote transformational development, resulting in a 6.6% year-on-year increase in operating expenses. Benefited by the optimization of our wealth management product portfolio and the enhancement to the rate of return, interest and other income went up by 28.4% year-on-year. For the investment of associates, SPD Bank and China Tower, et cetera, also brought contributions to our returns. Income from investments accounted for using the equity method reached HKD 5 billion. As a result, our net profit increased by 8.4% year-on-year to HKD 76.2 billion. Our profitability continued to stay at a leading level amongst top-tier global telecommunications operators.
In terms of breakdown of revenue growth by business, the increase in telecommunication services revenue was mainly attributable to the growth in wireless data traffic, wireline broadband, and applications and information services. Of which, incremental revenue contributions from wireless data traffic, wireline broadband, and applications and information services amounted to HKD 3.6 billion, HKD 3.9 billion, and HKD 18.4 billion respectively. As for breakdown of revenue growth by CHBN, incremental revenue contributions from customer market, home market, business market, and new market amounted to HKD 3.3 billion, HKD 5.5 billion, HKD 13.3 billion, and HKD 3.7 billion, respectively. Going forward, we will continue to drive the comprehensive and integrated development of our CHBN markets, advance digital intelligent transformation, and promote continuous enhancements to our business structure and the shift of growth drivers.
The company continued to enhance quality and efficiency and strengthen lean management, achieving favorable results in cost control. Network operation and support expenses went up by 3.9% to HKD 143.5 billion. The increase was mainly attributable to the investment ramp-up in areas such as Smart Family, DICT, and the construction of Capability Middle Platform to support our accelerating business transformation. In addition, we have expanded the scale of our 5G and Computing Force Network, et cetera. The corresponding operation and maintenance expenses have gone up. Depreciation and amortization increased by 3.7% to HKD 103.2 billion. The increase was mainly due to the fact that capital expenditure has maintained at a certain level in recent years. Employee benefit and related expenses increased by 10.2% to HKD 70.4 billion.
This was mainly because we continued to adjust and optimize our employee structure and increased efforts on recruitment and training of staff members relating to digital intelligent businesses. Selling expenses increased by 2.5% to HKD 26.8 billion, which was mainly attributable to accelerating channel transformation, where we have invested resources to improve our all-round new channel system. We further improved the utilization efficiency of marketing resources, resulting in a continuous reduction in the proportion of selling expenses to revenue. Our profit level continued to rise. Net profit increased by 8.4% year-on-year to HKD 76.2 billion. Basic earnings per share amounted to HKD 3.56. EBITDA increased by 5.5% year-on-year to HKD 183.5 billion. EBITDA accounted for 40.6% of telecommunications service revenue. The company continued to record favorable cash flow.
Net operating cash flow was HKD 160.5 billion, up 9% year-on-year. Free cash flow amounted to HKD 79.1 billion, up 43.3% year-on-year. This was because we achieved favorable growth in revenue and profit in the first half of the year, and our cash collections and payments have further improved. Our capital structure maintains stable and healthy, with corporate credit ratings equivalent to China sovereign ratings. In the second half of the year, we will persist in seeking progress while maintaining stability, put efforts in strengthening quality and efficiency improvement measures, systematic management, lean management, and risk prevention and control, continue to stimulate the vitality of value creation, and promote high-quality development. This is the end of our presentation and analysis on our 2023 interim results.