China Telecom Q1 net profit falls 9% after tax reform

[BEIJING] China Telecom's quarterly net profit fell 9 per cent from a year ago to 5.05 billion yuan (S$1.08 billion), hurt by the introduction of China's new value-added tax which replaced a flat rate tax.

The smallest of China's three carriers said first-quarter revenue fell 2.1 per cent to 81.45 billion yuan, although the number of subscribers rose by 3.2 million to 189 million.

REUTERS