China Mobile (00941) posted largely stable top-line growth but weaker profitability for the three months ended 31 March 2026.

Operating revenue reached RMB266.50 billion, a year-on-year increase of 1.0%. Core, or “principal,” business revenue fell 1.11% to RMB219.90 billion, while “other businesses” – which include emerging digital services – advanced 12.70% to RMB46.63 billion, offsetting part of the softness in traditional communications income.

EBITDA declined 5.00% to RMB76.70 billion, compressing the EBITDA margin to 28.80% from 30.60% a year earlier. Profit attributable to equity shareholders dropped 4.20% to RMB29.30 billion, dragging the net margin down 0.6 percentage points to 11.0%. Profit before tax slipped 4.44% to RMB37.57 billion.

Cost pressures were evident: cost of products sold jumped 13.51% to RMB46.12 billion and other operating expenses rose 8.79% to RMB16.38 billion, while network operation and support expenses were broadly flat at RMB75.17 billion.

Cash flow remained robust. Net cash generated from operating activities more than doubled to RMB71.45 billion, driven by working-capital improvements. Capital expenditure payments fell to RMB30.40 billion from RMB36.38 billion, helping narrow the investing cash outflow to RMB10.75 billion. Cash and cash equivalents stood at RMB155.29 billion at quarter-end, up from RMB97.27 billion at end-2025.

Total assets were RMB2,188.83 billion, against total liabilities of RMB726.43 billion, leaving the equity ratio broadly unchanged at 66.8%.

Operationally, the mobile subscriber base expanded by 3.76 million during the quarter to 1.01 billion, with 5G users climbing to 668 million. Integrated broadband customers grew by 3.90 million to 333 million, and cellular IoT connections rose by 22.33 million to 1.50 billion.

Management reiterated its focus on strengthening communications, computing and AI services, alongside network upgrades and full-stack innovation, aiming to balance quality improvements with scale-driven growth.