中國"壟斷巨獸"移動通信的利潤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.
聊天應用正在影響中國移動(China Mobile)的利潤，這家全球用戶最多的移動運營商遭遇了14年來首次利潤下降，該公司將其歸咎於騰訊(Tencent)的微信(WeChat)之類的聊天應用的競爭。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.
這家移動運營商還提到其提供給蘋果(Apple) iPhone手機的補貼，稱這也是造成盈利降低的一大因素，中國移動從今年1月開始在自己的網絡銷售iPhone。2013年淨利潤下跌5.9%，至1218億元人民幣 （合195億美元），這是它自1999年以來首次淨利潤下降。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.
考慮到移動行業去年從手機短信(SMS)盈利1200億美元，免費聊天應用的興起對全球的移動運營商來說是個問題。
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.
有些運營商推出新服務作爲反擊，並希望超快的4G服務能帶來較高的定價。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.
但中國移動現在才建立自己的4G網絡，今年必須爲此投入750億元人民幣，使全年資本支出總額增加五分之一，達到2252億元人民幣。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.
眼下這筆投資尚未收到效果，因爲數據服務不如短信業務盈利高，而且在中國移動7.75億用戶中，僅有134萬用戶開通了4G服務。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.
中國移動表示，計劃在今年年底前銷售1億部4G設備，擁有5000萬4G用戶。蘋果iPhone的人氣將爲中國移動實現這一目標起到重要作用。China Mobile shares closed down 3.6 per cent after the earnings release.
中國移動公佈盈利後，收盤時股價下跌3.6%。
