The largest mobile carrier in the world, state-owned China Mobile said its net profit in the past nine months rose a full 25 percent, which cements the carrier's lead over rival China Unicom just ahead of the roll out of 3G services. Analysts expected China Mobile to post a net profit increase of 27 percent or about 16.3 billion yuan ($2.1 billion) for Q3, while its 2006 net profit is expected to hit 64.4 billion yuan. China Mobile claimed to have 287.15 million subscribers at the end of September.

For more on China Mobile's Q3 results:
- take a look at this AP article