China Mobile saw its profits growth slowing in its last fiscal year, thanks to rising competition and a maturing mobile market. Xi Guohua, chairman of the world’s biggest cellco by subscribers, spoke in his statement of a “more complex competitive landscape” and a “challenging backdrop”. As China shifts towards 3G and becomes the largest smartphone market on earth, its biggest cellco has been disadvantaged by its isolated TD-SCDMA network technology, while its rivals Unicom and Telecom have been able to tap into the broader ecosystems for W-CDMA and CDMA2000. Xi went on to say: “The emergence of new technologies and businesses, particularly in internet, magnified the impact and substitution effect on the traditional communications sector”.
