China Mobile's H1 profit fell 6.3% to 78.9 billion yuan, dividend still rose
The interim dividend climbed to 2.51 yuan a share even as profit declined, with free cash flow up more than doubled from a year earlier.
Published
China Mobile's net profit for the first half of 2026 fell 6.3% year on year to 78.9 billion yuan, according to interim results released on August 13, 2026, as reported by The Standard. Operating revenue slipped 1.1% to 538 billion yuan, with core telecommunications revenue down 5.7% to 350.4 billion yuan, Light Reading reported, citing the company's earnings call transcript. Computing services revenue, by contrast, grew 14% to 52.9 billion yuan.
Chairman Chen Zhongyue said the company continued to face uncertainty from policy changes to the scope of value-added tax items affecting the results, The Standard reported.
Despite the lower profit, China Mobile declared an interim dividend of 2.51 yuan per share, up 0.3% from a year earlier and equivalent to HK$2.9003 a share, The Standard reported. Free cash flow for the period rose 111.6% to 53.9 billion yuan, and net operating cash inflow climbed 37% to 114.9 billion yuan, according to BigGo Finance.
The gap between a shrinking profit line and a rising dividend points to where income-focused holders will be looking next. China Mobile's investment case rests heavily on its cash return commitments, and a dividend that keeps climbing even as core telecom revenue contracts suggests management is prioritising payouts over reported earnings. Whether that is sustainable depends on how much of the cash flow improvement reflects one-off timing versus a durable gap between billings and costs, a split the company has not yet laid out in full.