China Mobile Limited (HKG:0941)
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Earnings Call: Q2 2025

Aug 7, 2025

Yang Jie
Executive Director and Chairman, China Mobile Limited

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to China Mobile Ltd.'s 2025 interim results presentation. In today's presentation, I will first brief you on our overall results for the first half of 2025. Then Mr. He Biao, our CEO, will talk about our operating performance. Finally, Mr. Li Ronghua, our CFO, will walk you through our financial results. The company has achieved favorable results in its development in the first half of 2025. First, we achieved stable and healthy growth in operating performance. Second, we continuously improved our development quality. Third, we attained key results in the Three Major Programs . Fourth, we fully unleashed reform efficacy. Fifth, we continue to increase shareholder returns. Sixth, we made all-out efforts to become world-class. We have set out our key performance indicators for the first half of 2025 in our materials for your reference.

In the first half of 2025, amid a complex and stressful external environment marked by various challenges, we pulled together as one solid team and capitalized on the key opportunities arising from digital intelligence transformation. Guided by our 1-2-2-5 Strategy, we have achieved stable and healthy growth in operating performance. In the first half of 2025, services revenue reached CNY 467 billion, an increase of 0.7% year-on-year. Digital transformation revenue increased by 6.6% year-on-year, taking up more than one-third of services revenue. The total number of connections reached 3.8 billion. Net profit reached CNY 84.2 billion, an increase of 5% year-on-year. EBITDA margin reached 34.2%, an increase of 0.9 percentage points. Brand value has further increased. We have solidly proceeded with transformation and upgrades, shifting growth drivers and continuously improving development quality.

We remain committed to our market segment-based approach and achieved notable results in growing our young, commercial, and international roaming customer segments, etc. We continue to focus on customer retention and value generation, with mobile customers surpassing 1 billion. Mid-to-high-end customer value retention and expansion rate has exceeded 102%. We have also proactively strengthened our product offerings and innovation capabilities. We offered a total of 17 products with over 100 million customers. We have signed contracts for 1,485 AI+DICT projects and for nearly 1,300 smart city projects. We achieved key results following the full-fledged implementation of three major programs. We have comprehensively propelled the Two New Elements upgrades. We spent an overall CapEx of CNY 58.4 billion for the first half of 2025, and our smart digitalization infrastructure has seen ongoing improvement.

To date, more than 2.59 million 5G base stations have been put into operation, and our RedCap stations have provided continuous coverage to counties and cities nationwide. Our gigabit broadband coverage has reached 500 million households. Total intelligent computing utility capacity has reached 61.3 EFLOPS, of which self-built computing utility capacity has reached 33.3 EFLOPS, representing a net increase of 4.1 EFLOPS. We have launched more than 1,300 capabilities on our integration platform. In the first half of 2025, these capabilities have been deployed more than 800 billion times. We continue to optimize our smart info service spectrum. We maintained efforts to enhance service quality and efficiency by launching the 3-1-0 service initiatives. We have made 10 service commitments and established the service supervision platform.

We also accelerated the development of a digital intelligence service system that covers all customers, business lines, processes, and scenarios, thus ensuring effective protection of customer rights and customer service excellence. We continue to step up brand building efforts, launching the revamped 515 China Mobile Aijia Day and the China Mobile Smart Enterprise corporate-facing brand. We further advanced marketing channel transformation with a number of monthly active customers of our China Mobile app, exceeding 270 million, a year-on-year increase of 49.8%. Centered around the BASIC 6 SciTech Innovation Initiative, we have built strong innovation capabilities, profoundly empowering both the two new elements upgrade and the AI+ initiative. These efforts have propelled a leap forward in our transformation and broke new ground in innovation. We have enhanced our SciTech Innovation System.

We have optimized the Unified Five Rings and established various research institutions such as the China Mobile Jiutian Artificial Intelligence Technology Co., Ltd. and the Embodied AI Industry Innovation Center. We have achieved robust outcomes in SciTech innovation, including the establishment of the world's first small-scale 6G trial network. We are at the forefront among global operators in the number of 5G-A and 6G international standard projects. We have accelerated the development of frontier technologies. We have successfully completed pilot tests with trillion-parameter level large model and launched the VLA embodied intelligence large model. In the field of AI, we have established ourselves as a provider, aggregator, and operator, fast-tracking the AI+ initiative with composure. We have also developed the mixture of models and agents, MOMA.

Our Jiutian general purpose and specialized large model matrix has undergone a significant upgrade, and we have covered more than 50 industry large models. We launched the AI innovation community. We have harnessed the strengths of central state-owned enterprises and the industrial chain to create an innovative national-level open-source platform for AI. The scale impact of AI+ has started to become notable. Our AI intelligence assistant, Lingxi Smart Agent, boasted over 60 million monthly active users. AI direct revenue has seen very rapid growth. We continue to extend reforms and promote innovative management practices, fully releasing development vitality. We extended broader and deeper reforms in an orderly manner and continued to strengthen organizational and mechanism reforms on the areas of strategic key accounts and commercial customers, digital intelligence, and artificial intelligence.

We continue to implement the Scientific Reform Action and the Double Hundred Action reforms and further optimize the collaborative mechanism between headquarters, regional companies, and specialized teams. Through enhanced strategic cooperation, capital partnerships, innovation collaborations, and industry synergies, we continue to expand our circle of relatives and circle of friends. We put a strong focus on sustainable development. We achieved comprehensive progress on green development and solidly fulfilled social responsibilities on top of our remarkable results of corporate governance. Our ESG performance has won wide acclaim. 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 2.75 per share for the 2025 interim dividend, representing an increase of 5.8% year-on-year.

For the full year of 2025, profit to be distributed in cash as a percentage of the profit attributable to equity shareholders of the company will further increase from that of 2024. The company will continue to create more value for shareholders. Currently, we are at an important juncture impacted by a period during which we are faced with strategic opportunities, intensive reforms, and shifting growth drivers. Despite the pressures and challenges, we are presented with ample room for development. On the one hand, industry transformation pressure is increasing. Demand for traditional communications is reaching saturation and market competition has intensified. It is crucial to expedite the transformation from old to new growth drivers. On the other hand, the digital intelligence era presents broader opportunities. AI is evolving rapidly, with technology evolution and industrial application progressing in tandem. This is quickly reshaping human life, production, and governance.

Carbon-silicon symbiosis is fostering new development momentum, offering vast prospects for industry growth. In the face of both opportunities and challenges, we will fully implement the three major programs and the Three Key Furtherances . We will robustly manage business operations with precision and diligence. A strong emphasis will be placed on elevating service quality and effectiveness. We will amplify reform and innovation, promote the scale application of AI+, continuously driving improvements in operational efficiency, growth potential, and development value, and building a world-class information services and SciTech innovation enterprise at a high standard, thus creating greater value for our shareholders and customers. That's the end of my presentation. Now I would like to invite Mr. He Biao to introduce our operating performance.

He Biao
Executive Director and CEO, China Mobile Limited

Thank you, Chairman Yang. Next, I will present the operating performance of the company for the first half of 2025. By way of reference, we have shown in this table revenue breakdown by CHBN markets. Following the 1-2-2-5 Strategy, we have accelerated the seamless integration of market systems, promoting shifts in development approaches, growth drivers, and operating models. Thanks to these efforts, structural growth is showing favorable trends. We saw structural revenue growth buoyed by strengthened interconnectedness among diverse market customer groups. Revenue from key segments recorded rapid growth. The revenues from the commercial customer segment and elderly healthcare from the senior customer segments recorded growth of 15.4% and 54.2% respectively. We saw initial positive outcomes in structural revenue growth driven by the integration of all business lines. Fixed connection revenue has increased by 8.8% while IoT information services revenue has increased by 23.9%.

We also saw our operating models advance structural transformation in an orderly manner. The activity rate of customers with benefit products has increased by 16.9 percentage points. The number of device connections on the home IoT platform has increased by 17.1%. For the customer market, we have continuously consolidated our foundational scale advantages, deepening integrated operations and enhancing product value. The customer market remained generally stable in the first half of the year. Mobile revenue amounted to CNY 244.7 billion. Mobile customers reached 1,005 million. Mobile ARPU continued to be industry leading at 49.5. 5G network customers recorded a net addition of 46.91 million. Mobile broadband integration rate exceeded 95%. Personalized intelligence services powered by our Lingxi Smart Agent have been used over 1 billion times.

Turning to the home market, we strove to build new integrated growth pathways, strengthened the China Mobile Aijia brand leadership, created People-C ar-H ome, integrated living scenarios, and accelerated comprehensive AI plus smart home upgrades. The home market achieved favorable growth in the first half of 2025. Revenue from home market increased by 7.4% to CNY 75 billion. The number of household broadband customers reached 284 million, with a net increase of 6.23 million customers. Household customer blended ARPU reached CNY 44.4, a year-on-year increase of 2.3%. Gigabit household broadband customers increased by 19.4% year-on-year, while FTTR customers saw a year-on-year increase of 264%. Home intelligence services powered by our Lingxi Smart Agent have been used over 800 million times.

For the business market, thanks to our efforts to advancing three-pronged conversions, continuously enhance self-reliant capabilities, and further refine customer management, we achieved favorable growth in this market in the first half of 2025. Revenue from business market increased by 5.6% to CNY 118.2 billion. The number of corporate customers reached 34.84 million, representing a net addition of 2.25 million. We have won 17.7% of open bids in the industry, an increase of 1.1 percentage points. China Mobile Cloud revenue increased by 11.3% year-on-year, and we have signed more than 130 contracts for projects related to AI industry models. Revenue from the 5G dedicated network grew by 57.8%. Video IoT connections grew by 20.9% year-on-year. In the new market, we have remained committed to promoting innovation and breakthroughs and increasing contributions. We saw favorable growth in the new market in the first half of 2025.

New market revenue reached CNY 29.1 billion, a year-on-year increase of 9.3%. International business revenue reached CNY 14.0 billion, a year-on-year increase of 18.4%. The number of overseas Chinese enterprises that we served has increased by 23.3%. Migu AI Smart Match accumulated more than 198 million views. Business scale of industry chain finance increased by 24.5% year-on-year. Income from investments accounted for using the equity method reached CNY 7.2 billion, representing year-on-year growth of 17%. We remained fully committed on brand services, digital intelligent operations, and precision and efficient management, continuously improving our value-oriented operation capabilities. We developed a top-level master brand service strategy and persistently enhanced our all-encompassing service operations. Our brand value ranked among the top for global operators. We have optimized our digital intelligence organizational structure and promoted digital transformation in a scientific and efficient manner.

The application of AI plus has significantly empowered R&D design, network operations, sales, marketing, and operational management. We have weaved precision, refinement, and efficiency throughout the entire management process. Surrounding six major resource factors such as human resources and finance, we have fully unleashed the productivity of all resource factors and comprehensively enhanced resource efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity. In the second half of the year, we will accelerate transformation, strengthen innovation and breakthroughs, and ramp up efforts to achieve tangible results from reforms, striving to achieve stable and healthy growth in revenue and favorable growth in profit. Our full-year major business targets are set out in this material for your reference. Now, I would like to invite Mr. Li Ronghua to present our financial performance.

LI Ronghua
Executive Director and CFO, China Mobile Limited

Thank you, Mr. He. Now, I would like to present our 2025 interim financial results to you.

In the first half of 2025, we overcame numerous difficulties and challenges, achieving stable growth in operating performance. Operating revenue reached CNY 543.8 billion, decreased by 0.5% year-on-year. Of which, telecommunication services revenue were CNY 467 billion, up by 0.7%, while revenue from sales of products and others were CNY 76.8 billion, decreased by 7.7% year-on-year. We have strived to deepen cost reduction and efficiency enhancement initiatives, as well as quality and efficiency improvement measures, and have achieved excellent results in cost control. Operating expenses decreased by 1.7% year-on-year. Affected by market interest rate environment, interest and other income decreased by 17.4% year-on-year. Benefited from improved performance from our invested companies, income from investments accounted for using the equity method increased by 17% year-on-year. As a result, our net profit increased by 5% year-on-year to CNY 84.2 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, growth in traditional businesses has slowed down, while the revenue contribution from wireline broadband, the share of applications and information services business, CHBN, and digital transformation revenue have continued to rise. This trend has led to ongoing optimization of the company's revenue structure, reflecting a smooth transition in growth momentum. The company has advanced precision and efficient management, ensuring comprehensive and rigorous cost management across all areas. The operating expenses growth in the first half of 2025 was 1.2 percentage points lower than the revenue growth. Network operation and support expenses were CNY 139.9 billion, down 2%, mainly due to strict control of outsourcing expenses and increased internalization of core capabilities. Depreciation and amortization decreased by 1.2% to CNY 95.4 billion, mainly due to the steady decrease in CapEx over recent years.

Employee benefit and related expenses reached CNY 77.4 billion, up 3.1%, reflecting the company's enhanced efforts to incentivize technological innovation personnel and high-performing key personnel as part of its technology-driven innovation strategy. Selling expenses decreased by 1.5% to CNY 28.8 billion due to factors such as adjustments in marketing pace and the optimization of online and offline resource allocation. Other operating expenses amounted to CNY 37 billion, up by 2.8%, because interconnection expenses increased. Our profitability continued to maintain industry-leading position, achieving a net profit of CNY 84.2 billion, a year-on-year increase of 5%. EBITDA was CNY 186.0 billion, up 2%. The EBITDA margin was 34.2%, up 0.9 percentage points year-on-year. The company's cash flow performance remains healthy and sufficient. Net cash generated from operating activities amounted to CNY 83.8 billion. Free cash flow was CNY 25.5 billion. Our capital structure maintained stable and healthy, with corporate credit ratings continuing to align with China's sovereign ratings.

In the second half of 2025, the company will focus on enhancing quality and efficiency, strengthening precision and efficient management, and reinforcing risk prevention and control. We aim to continue strengthening our value creation capabilities, ensure high quality and sustainable development. This is the end of our presentation and analysis on our 2025 interim results. Thank you.

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