China Mobile adds 4.91M customers

China's largest mobile operator, China Mobile, is adding customers at a record rate--signing up 4.91 million customers in February, up from 4.86 million in January. At the end of February, the company had a total of 311 million customers. Not surprisingly, the growth is having a positive impact on the firm's earnings. China Mobile reported a 23 percent rise in 2006 net profit from $53.55 billion yuan in 2005 to $66.03 billion yuan in 2006.

The firm has not yet rolled out 3G technology because of regulatory issues. The company, however is hoping to have a trial of TD-SCDMA 3G technology by the end of October.

For more:
- read this WSJ story (sub req.)