Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to China Mobile Limited's 2023 annual results presentation. In today's presentation, I will first brief you on our overall results for the year of 2023. Then Mr. Li Ronghua, our CFO, will walk you through our financial results. We obtained the following notable achievements in 2023. First, we adopted a strategy-led approach and drove new milestones in business performance. Second, we leveraged innovation and deepened strategic transformation with remarkable results. Third, we expedited further business upgrade and facilitated mutual advancement of the two new elements. Fourth, we achieved breakthroughs amidst adversity and yielded fruitful results from innovation and reform. Fifth, we are dedicated to enhancing shareholder returns and have used a multipronged approach. Sixth, we forged ahead with determination and accelerated the building of a world-class enterprise.
By way of reference, we have provided results of key performance indicators for 2023 in this table. In 2023, despite various challenges faced by the company in a complex and severe macro environment, we focused on fully implementing our "1-2-2-5 " strategy to promote high quality and sustainable development. Our business results reached new milestones, with revenue surpassing the CNY 1 trillion mark for the first time in our history of development and net profit attaining a record high. Our operating revenue reached CNY 1,009.3 billion, up by 7.7% year-on-year. Services revenue stood at CNY 863.5 billion, representing an increase of 6.3% year-on-year. Net profit reached a record high of CNY 131.8 billion, up by 5% year-on-year. ROE remained stable.
We continued to consolidate our competitive edges, making solid progress in establishing a world-class enterprise that takes pride in outstanding products, reputable brands, leading innovation, and modern governance. We continued to strengthen innovation-driven development, and business transformation achieved remarkable results. Digital transformation revenue increased by 22.2% year-on-year and reached CNY 253.8 billion. It contributed 89.7% of incremental services revenue. As a percentage of services revenue, it increased to 29.4%. These numbers have underscored the value contribution of digital transformation as our second curve of revenue growth. All four CHBN markets maintained growth across the board. HBN revenue accounted for 43.2% of services revenue, indicating further optimization of our revenue structure. We accelerated the build-out of the two new elements, and we continued to enhance new information infrastructure.
We maintained leadership in Dual Gigabit Network. We have accumulatively brought into use more than 1.94 million 5G base stations. We planned for the deployment of the world's largest RedCap commercial network and built the world's first 5G New Voice network. We continue to achieve ongoing leadership in the Computility Network. Our national Computility Network that boasts leading technology and scale has taken shape. Our data center capability covers all nodes across the Eastern Data and Western Computing hubs in China, and we have sped up the realization of our N+X multilayer and full coverage deployment of intelligent computing capability. Our intelligent computility reached 10.1 EFLOPS , an increase of 206% year-on-year. We witnessed scale development of our integration platform.
We have included 1,133 integration platform capabilities, which have been accumulatively deployed 580.7 billion times throughout the year. We received the highest DCMM rating level 5 certificate for data governance. We remain steadfast on targeted investments and continuously reinforced our digital intelligence foundation. In 2023, CapEx totaled CNY 180.3 billion. This figure accounted for 20.9% of services revenue, down by 1.9 percentage points year-on-year. In 2024, we expect CapEx to stand at around CNY 173 billion, down by 4% year-on-year. CapEx to services revenue ratio is expected to fall below 20%. By the end of this year, we will have cumulatively commissioned 2.35 million 5G base stations, and the scale of intelligent computing will exceed 17 EFLOPS .
We continue to enrich our new information services system and significantly strengthened our supply capabilities. In terms of customers, the total number of connections reached 3.35 billion, a net addition of 410 million connections. In terms of products, we formed a product system covering digital intelligence services. In the mass market, 17 of our products each had a user base in excess of 100 million. In the business market, revenue of 6 products exceeded 10 billion each. In terms of branding, we have introduced the 1+4+4 Strategic Brand System as part of our recent initiatives. We enjoyed leading brand value among global telecommunications operators. Further, we proactively took steps to accelerate breakthroughs in Computility applications and deployed innovative development plans for the Internet of Video Things, IoVT, business, and our efforts have yielded favorable results.
We have launched the All-Network commercialization pilot test of our Tianqiong Computility Network Brain and the Baichuan Integrated Computility and Network Platform. Our Computility Force Strategy was set for scaled, standardized, and commercialized operation. For IoVT, our China Mobile Home Guard and Clairvoyant Cameras have together obtained 56.26 million customers across the network. Our China Mobile Cloud has taken solid steps towards our goal of becoming an industry leader. Revenue of China Mobile Cloud reached CNY 83.3 billion, up by 65.6% year-on-year. Industry Cloud IaaS-PaaS revenue share ranked top five in the industry. We have enhanced the innovation of our computility products, leading to a greater diversification of offerings. Our cloud computer recorded a sales volume of over 2.7 million, representing a more than tenfold increase year-on-year. We achieved breakthroughs amidst adversity and yielded fruitful results from innovation and reform.
First, our technological innovation is in full swing. By upgrading the Unified Five-Ring technological framework and implementing the BASIC6 Sci-Tech Innovation Plan, we achieved a constant stream of results in technological innovation. Our network technologies continued to drive industry development. We led 60 projects in 5G and AI international standard setting, more than any other global telecommunications operator. We also successfully sent two land-space experimental satellites, China Mobile 01, and Xinghe Verification Satellite into low Earth orbit. We promoted the Computility Network as an important component for national strategic emerging industries. We attained breakthrough improvements in our key digital intelligence capabilities. We launched the Jiutian Zhongqing Foundation Large Model, as well as five industry large models covering customer service, public administration, et cetera. We also deployed efforts in emerging security technologies such as 6G, Computility Network, native security, and quantum communications.
Second, we saw increased effectiveness of enterprise reforms. We continued with enterprise reforms with increased depth and breadth. In our subsidiary operations, we have implemented reforms to strengthen the system of the boards of directors. We have also continuously enhanced our talent pool through the 10, 100, 1,000, 10,000 program. Frontline reforms have generated notable results. We have set up 11 specialized, premium, unique, and new teams like Xinsheng Tech. The Cloud Capability Center was selected as one of the first batch of world-class professional leading enterprises by the SASAC. We continuously strengthened management using scientific approaches. We optimized our product operation mechanisms and firmly promoted the construction of a digital intelligence treasury system. The digital intelligence ecosystem has experienced significant growth and prosperity.
This expansion has been facilitated through strategic cooperation, capital partnerships, innovation collaborations, ecosystem synergies, and other means, resulting in the continuous expansion of the circle of relatives and circle of friends. Third, we obtained outstanding progress in operation management. We continued to advance channel transformation in greater depth. Our Pan-Terminal and Omni-Channel Alliance are increasing influence, and we continued innovations in smart grids and online operation. We maintained best-in-class services, which allowed us to stay at a significantly leading position in the industry in terms of overall customer satisfaction. Our management practices were notably empowered by digital application. Our network construction, network operation, and maintenance efficiency has improved, while our supply chain has gained increased resilience. We continued to enhance ESG management and our overall performance in green development, fulfillment of social responsibilities, and corporate governance has received widespread acclaim.
We were named one of the top 10 China ESG model enterprises at the first China ESG Model Annual Ceremony and topped the list of China ESG Listed Companies Pioneer 100. The company consistently balances the interests of shareholders with the future development of the company. It has implemented various measures, including increasing dividend payments and conducting buybacks of Hong Kong shares, striving to enhance shareholder returns. The board recommends a dividend payout ratio of 71% for the full year of 2023. It also recommends a final dividend payment of HKD 2.4 per share for the year ended the thirty-first of December, 2023. Together with the interim dividend already paid, total dividend for the full year of 2023 amounted to HKD 4.83 per share, an increase of 9.5% from that of 2022.
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 in the three-year period from 2024, the profit to be distributed in cash for each year will gradually increase to above 75% of the profit attributable to equity shareholders of the company for that year. The company will strive to create more value for shareholders. The company will continue to reasonably utilize capital market practices, such as dividends and share buybacks, in order to maintain capital market vitality and drive the realization of company value. Currently, we see valuable opportunities as we expand our information services.
With the advocacy of the national AI+ initiative and the further accelerated advancement of Digital China, the industry experiences new growth potential from the development of new quality productive forces, and AI+ opens up vast blue ocean of opportunities. In the meantime, we are confronted with a complex and severe external environment, where market competition has become more diversified and intense, among other uncertainties. Faced with both opportunities and challenges, we will fully implement the 1-2-2-5 Strategy , relentlessly and comprehensively propel the Basic Six Sci-Tech Innovation Plan, reinforce strategic planning for AI+ , develop new quality productive forces at an accelerated pace, and establish ourselves as a world-class information services and Sci-Tech innovation enterprise to a high standard. We will vigorously promote AI+ initiatives and achieve breakthroughs at an accelerated pace.
Currently, we boast more than 450 AI capabilities, and their applications have been seen in more than 900 scenarios. With joint efforts of more than 180,000 developers, we have made breakthroughs in both general AI large models and industry large models. Going forward, we will fully leverage our resource endowment to develop Model as a Service . We will create AI product family and expand applications of AI products in priority industries, further increasing its ability to create value. We will vigorously stimulate new growth momentum for new businesses. First, we will establish our cloud as a world-class cloud brand. In 2024, we strive to maintain rapid growth in China Mobile Cloud revenue, striving to achieve more than 30% growth rate.
Second, we will promote the integrated development of terminals and contents for naked-eye 3D in order to drive data traffic growth. Third, we will accelerate the development of the cloud handsets and cloud computers. Fourth, we will upgrade video surveillance business to IoVT business. Fifth, we will explore and promote the development of standardized, product-based, and platform-based industry solutions in order to vigorously tap into the commercial customer market. In 2024, we will strive to achieve favorable growth in revenue and profit to continuously create greater value for our shareholders and customers. We have listed our major full-year business targets on this slide for your reference. That concludes my part. Now, let me turn it over to Mr. Li Ronghua for financial performance.
Thank you, Chairman Yang. I will now present our financial performance for the year of 2023.
In 2023, we continued to promote our transformational development and recorded favorable growth in both revenue and profit. Operating revenue was CNY 1,009.3 billion, up by 7.7% year-on-year, of which telecommunication services revenue was CNY 863.5 billion, up by 6.3% year-on-year. Revenue from sales of products and others amounted to CNY 145.8 billion, up by 16.4% year-on-year. While we continued to strengthen cost management, we have appropriately increased our investment to promote transformational development, resulting in an 8.3% year-on-year increase in operating expenses. Affected by fluctuations in market interest rates, interest income from monetary funds, time deposits, and certificates of deposit decreased to a certain extent...
However, benefiting from the significant increase in gains from changes in fair value of wealth management products and bond funds, the total interest and other income increased by 34.4% year-on-year. For the investment of associates, SPD Bank and China Tower, etc., also brought contributions to our returns. Income from investments accounted for using the equity method reached CNY 9 billion. As a result, our net profit increased by 5% year-on-year to CNY 131.8 billion. Our profitability continued to stay at a leading level amongst top-tier global telecommunications operators. CHBN markets maintained growth across the board. Revenue figures of the CHBN markets are presented in this table for your reference. The customer markets are stable growth in customer size and value, thanks to our consistent efforts to pursue the integrated development of data access, applications, and customer benefits.
As of the end of December 2023, mobile customers totaled 991 million, with a net addition of 15.99 million customers. Mobile ARPU grew by 0.6% to CNY 49.3. Our customer market revenue reached CNY 490.2 billion, up by 0.3% year-on-year. We integrated customer benefits with our operations and obtained visible results, as we registered 330 million customers using our benefit products, or a net addition of 42.76 million. As an innovative initiative, we have launched the M-Zone Mango Card, and it has recorded sales volume of 11.47 million in five months, demonstrating its popularity among young customers. For the home market, we aspired to develop a smart home ecosystem featuring full gigabit network and cloud-based applications.
The home market has recorded rapid growth in both customer base and revenue. The number of household broadband customers reached 264 million, or an industry-leading net addition of 20.12 million customers. Household customer blended ARPU increased by 2.4% year-on-year to CNY 43.1. Our home market revenue reached CNY 131.9 billion, up by 13.1% year-on-year. The number of gigabit broadband customers reached 79.13 million, or a net addition of 40.79 million customers. The contribution of key smart home products continued to increase, with the numbers of customers for smart home network deployment and home security increasing by 36.7% and 40.5% respectively, and the number of HDICT solutions customers reaching 29.21 million.
To develop the business market, we placed concerted efforts on the integrated development of network, cloud, and DICT. In 2023, our share of contracts won in open tenders amounted to 14.3%, number one in the industry. Our business market revenue reached CNY 192.1 billion, up by 14.2% year-over-year. We took the lead in using 5G to empower digital transformation across industries. We signed 15,000 5G industry commercialization cases, an increase of 22.4% year-over-year. The contract value of our 5G DICT projects signed during the year reached CNY 47.5 billion, an increase of 30.1% year-over-year. Our 5G dedicated network revenue amounted to CNY 5.4 billion, an increase of 113.1% year-over-year.
We continued to enhance our market influence in the To B and To G markets, and our Vehicle-to-Everything entered into partnerships with all of the top ten best-selling new energy vehicle brands nationwide. For digital government, we implemented more than 2,000 projects by deploying our public administration informatization solutions during the year. In terms of new market, we focused on the international business, equity investment, digital content, and fintech, and their contributions to our revenue increased. Our new market revenue reached CNY 49.3 billion, up by 28.2% year-on-year, of which revenue of our international business was CNY 20.7 billion. That of our digital content was CNY 28 billion. Industrial chain finance business recorded revenue of CNY 76.6 billion.
We strengthened the synergy of our investment with industries, and our equity investment has increased about CNY 2.1 billion during the year. In terms of breakdown of revenue growth by business, the increase in telecommunications services revenue was mainly attributable to the growth in wireline broadband and applications and information services. Of which, the revenue from wireline broadband increased by 13.1% year-on-year, and the revenue from applications and information services increased by 21.5% year-on-year, contributing incremental revenue by CNY 13.7 billion and CNY 39.2 billion, respectively.... Going forward, we will further deepen the digital intelligence transformation, continue to promote the growth of new business scale, and promote the continuous optimization of revenue structure. The company continued to enhance quality and efficiency and strengthen lean management, achieving favorable results in cost control.
Network operations and support costs went up 5.8% to CNY 268.9 billion. The increase was mainly due to the growth of network scale and transformation business, accordingly leading to increase in maintenance, support, and energy expenditure. Depreciation and amortization increased by 3.5% to CNY 207.1 billion. It was mainly due to the continuous promotion of the construction of new infrastructure, such as 5G and Computility Network , and the expansion of asset scale. Employee benefit and related expenses were CNY 144.3 billion, up 10.9%. It was mainly due to factors such as optimization of employment structure and increase in incentives for scientific and technological personnel. Selling expenses increased by 5.8% to CNY 52.5 billion.
It was mainly due to factors such as increased efforts in channel operation and expansion of small and medium-sized enterprises, and the decreased proportion of selling expenses to revenue. Other operating expenses were CNY 59.3 billion, up by 15.4%. It was mainly due to factors such as the increase in credit impairment losses on accounts receivable and roaming settlement expenses of international business. We fully used the digital intelligence to promote cost reduction and efficiency improvement. Through cost reduction of smart network, the network maintenance fee per 100 renminbi of fixed assets decreased by 3.2%. Through cost saving of smart operation, the maintenance support fee per connection decreased by 0.7% year-on-year. Through efficiency enhancement of digital employees, we widely employed them to various fields, such as customer service, network operation and maintenance, marketing and general management, et cetera.
Our profitability continued to improve, with net profit of CNY 131.8 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of 5%. Basic earnings per share amounted to CNY 6.16. EBITDA was CNY 341.5 billion and accounted for 39.5% of telecommunications services revenue. The company continued to record favorable cash flow. Net operating cash flow was CNY 303.8 billion, up 8.2% year-on-year. Free cash flow amounted to CNY 123.5 billion, up 29.2% year-on-year. Our capital structure maintained stable and healthy with corporate credit ratings equivalent to China sovereign ratings. In 2024, the company will focus on strengthening operation and management, focusing on four aspects, namely quality and efficiency improvement, lean management, smart operation, and risk prevention and control.
We will further pursue innovation and seek progress while maintaining stability to promote high quality and sustainable development. This is the end of our presentation and analysis on our 2023 annual results. Thank you!