中国"垄断巨兽"移动通信的利润14年首次下降

Chat apps are cutting into the profits of China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile carrier by subscribers, which blamed the first drop in profits in 14 years on competition from the likes of Tencent’s WeChat messenger.

聊天应用正在影响中国移动(China Mobile)的利润，这家全球用户最多的移动运营商遭遇了14年来首次利润下降，该公司将其归咎于腾讯(Tencent)的微信(WeChat)之类的聊天应用的竞争。

The mobile operator also cited the subsidies it provides for Apple’s iPhones – which it began selling on its network for the first time in January – as a factor for its lower earnings. Net profit in 2013 fell 5.9 per cent to Rmb121.8bn ($19.5bn), the first time it has dropped since 1999.

这家移动运营商还提到其提供给苹果(Apple) iPhone手机的补贴，称这也是造成盈利降低的一大因素，中国移动从今年1月开始在自己的网络销售iPhone。2013年净利润下跌5.9%，至1218亿元人民币 （合195亿美元），这是它自1999年以来首次净利润下降。

The rise of free chat apps is a problem for mobile operators globally, given that the industry earned $120bn in revenues from SMS texting last year.

考虑到移动行业去年从手机短信(SMS)盈利1200亿美元，免费聊天应用的兴起对全球的移动运营商来说是个问题。

Some operators are fighting back with services of their own and the hope that a move to superfast 4G services will lead to premium pricing.

有些运营商推出新服务作为反击，并希望超快的4G服务能带来较高的定价。

But China Mobile is only now building its 4G network – a task that necessitates spending Rmb75bn this year, which would bring total capital expenditure up by a fifth to Rmb225.2bn.

但中国移动现在才建立自己的4G网络，今年必须为此投入750亿元人民币，使全年资本支出总额增加五分之一，达到2252亿元人民币。

For the moment, that investment has yet to pay off, with data services not as profitable as SMS texting, and only 1.34m of its 775m customers using 4G services.

眼下这笔投资尚未收到效果，因为数据服务不如短信业务盈利高，而且在中国移动7.75亿用户中，仅有134万用户开通了4G服务。

China Mobile said it planned to sell 100m 4G devices and have 50m 4G users by the end of the year. The popularity of Apple’s iPhones will play a big role in achieving that goal.

中国移动表示，计划在今年年底前销售1亿部4G设备，拥有5000万4G用户。苹果iPhone的人气将为中国移动实现这一目标起到重要作用。

China Mobile shares closed down 3.6 per cent after the earnings release.

中国移动公布盈利后，收盘时股价下跌3.6%。