BEIJING: China Mobile Ltd's capital expenditure will increase 22 percent to 225.2 billion yuan ($36.34 billion) this year, the company said in a presentation on Thursday, as it pumps money into developing its mobile networks.
This will include building more than 500,000 base stations in 2014, to help bolster its high-speed 4G service launched in December.
China Mobile also plans to sell 100 million 4G devices such as smartphones and tablets this year, according to the presentation, which was released after the firm's 2013 earnings results.
Revenues from SMS and MMS messaging shrank 6.5 percent in 2013 while voice sales shrank 3.4 percent, as these formerly lucrative sources of income have been replaced by services like Tencent Holdings' WeChat, which are carried on a user's mobile data plan.
