China Mobile, China’s leading telecom services provider, on Thursday reported a decrease in profit in the first half of 2019.

Profit attributable to equity shareholders dropped by 14.6 per cent year on year to 56.1 billion yuan (about 8 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half, according to a company statement.

Operating revenue in the first half came in at 389.4 billion yuan, down 0.6 per cent year on year, the company said.

Revenue from telecom services decreased 1.3 per cent year on year to 351.4 billion yuan.

Mobile clients increased 9.98 million to 935 million in the first six months of 2019 while 4G subscribers rose to 734 million, up 21.13 million.