Beijing: China Mobile, the world's biggest phone carrier by market value, will look for acquisitions in emerging markets to expand its overseas operations, Chairman Wang Jianzhou said.
The company doesn't have specific targets, Wang said at the ICT and Urban Development conference in the eastern Chinese city of Ningbo yesterday. China Mobile hasn't considered acquisitions in Europe, he said, adding asset prices in emerging markets and Europe remain too high.
China Mobile is searching for investments and acquisitions to revive profit growth after posting earnings that missed analysts' estimates.
The Beijing-based company this year agreed to buy a 20 per cent stake in Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, a move that the carrier said will help accelerate development of its wireless payment and finance operations.
As per estimates
China Mobile last month said first-quarter profit rose 1.1 per cent to 25.5 billion yuan (Dh14 billion), trailing the 26.9 billion yuan median analysts' estimate in a Bloomberg survey.
The carrier added fewer subscribers in the first three months this year as competition from China Telecom and China Unicom (Hong Kong) intensified.
The proposed 39.8 billion yuan investment in Pudong Bank will help lift China Mobile earnings per share, Wang said in March.
Separately, Wang said that "at the moment" China Mobile doesn't plan to take part in bidding for mobile-phone airwaves in Mexico.
In Hong Kong trading, China Mobile fell 1.7 per cent to HK$74.45 Friday. The stock has gained 2.2 per cent this year, outperforming a 7.9 per cent drop in the city's benchmark Hang Seng Index.
