China Telecom's net profit in 2025 will see a slight increase, with an annual dividend payout of 24.89 billion yuan.

(Source: V-View Finance and Reports)

On the evening of the 24th, China Telecom disclosed its “2025 Annual Report,” stating that in 2025, it achieved operating revenue of RMB 523.925 billion, up 0.1%; and net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was RMB 33.185 billion, up 0.5%.

A screenshot of China Telecom’s “2025 Annual Report,” and the same applies below.

Regarding fluctuations in revenue, China Telecom explained that the main reason is that the company adheres to a customer-centric approach, accelerates the deep integration of new strategic elements and product/service offerings around new consumer demand, and continues to promote the integrated, dual-wheel development of its innovation-led foundation business and its production-data business.

It is worth noting that China Telecom’s financial expenses in 2025 were RMB 388 million, up 70.5%. China Telecom believes the main reason is that the company proactively optimized its capital structure, replacing bank deposits with low-risk structured deposits with relatively higher returns. The returns are accounted for under investment income, which in turn leads to a decline in interest income from bank deposits.

China Telecom said it continues to advance the integrated, dual-wheel development of its innovation-led foundation business and production-data business. In 2025, revenue from its foundation business reached RMB 330.5 billion, up 0.7%. Mobile users reached 439 million, the penetration rate of 5G network users was 68.8%, broadband users reached 201 million, and the penetration rate of gigabit users was 31.6%. Revenue from industrial digitization businesses reached RMB 147.3 billion, up 0.5%, of which resource-based revenue was RMB 63.0 billion, up 1.1%.

Meanwhile, the emerging strategic businesses continued to maintain relatively rapid growth. Revenue from Tianyi Cloud reached RMB 120.7 billion. The market share of public cloud IaaS rose to the second position in China, and the market share of IaaS+PaaS remained in the top three domestically; AIDC revenue reached RMB 34.5 billion, security revenue was RMB 16.6 billion, and intelligent revenue was RMB 12.3 billion. Video connectivity revenue increased by 31.2% year over year, quantum revenue increased by 65.4% year over year, and satellite revenue increased by 30.7% year over year.

On the same day, China Telecom disclosed that after fully considering profitability, cash flow levels, and future capital needs for development, the board of directors decided to recommend to the annual general meeting of shareholders that for FY2025, the company distribute profits in cash representing 75% of the profit attributable to shareholders of the Company for the current year, with a final dividend of RMB 0.0908 per share (tax included). Together with the interim dividend already paid in 2025 of RMB 0.1812 per share (tax included), the total dividend for all of 2025 will be RMB 0.2720 per share (tax included).

As of December 31, 2025, China Telecom’s total number of shares was 91.507 billion. Based on this, the company plans to distribute cash dividends totaling approximately RMB 8.309 billion. The dividend source is the net profit realized for the current period. Adding the interim dividend already paid in 2025 of RMB 0.1812 per share (tax included), the company’s full-year dividend for 2025 will be RMB 0.2720 per share (tax included), totaling approximately RMB 24.89 billion, accounting for 75% of the profit attributable to shareholders of the company for FY2025.

China Telecom said that in 2026, it will continue to seize opportunities in the development of artificial intelligence, using Token services as the operating main line, and comprehensively deepen the rollout of its “cloud transformation to digital and intelligent” strategy. It will continue to strengthen customer value operations and the supply of high-quality products, focusing on 2C2H users to empower enterprises and accelerate the reshaping of traditional products, develop AI innovative applications, and upgrade AI terminals, thereby continually expanding new growth space for the foundation business; focusing on 2B2G customers to comprehensively deepen industry AI empowerment and further expand key markets such as enterprises and government affairs, continually promoting steady improvement in the scale and quality of production-data businesses. It will continue to strengthen the service capability of online touchpoints, promote that online services are easy to use and well-suited to users, and continuously enhance service quality and efficiency as well as user experience.

China Unicom, one of the three major telecom operators, already disclosed its “2025 Annual Report” on March 19. In 2025, it achieved operating revenue of RMB 392.223 billion, up 0.7%; and net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was RMB 9.127 billion, up 1.1%.

China Unicom’s board of directors proposed that for shares held in the register after the close of trading on the equity registration date specified in the equity distribution implementation announcement, the company would distribute a final cash dividend of RMB 0.523 per 10 shares (tax included), totaling approximately RMB 1.635 billion (tax included) in final dividends to its shareholders. The remaining profits available for distribution to shareholders will be used for profit distributions in future years. Including the interim cash dividend already paid, the company will distribute a cash dividend of RMB 1.635 per 10 shares for the full year (tax included), totaling approximately RMB 5.112 billion (tax included) to its shareholders.

China Mobile expects to disclose its 2025 annual report on March 26, 2026, and hold its 2025 annual performance briefing.

As of the close on March 24, in the A-share market, China Mobile rose 0.65% to RMB 93.88; China Unicom rose 1.57% to RMB 4.54; and China Telecom rose 1.04% to RMB 5.85.

In the Hong Kong stock market, China Mobile rose 0.19% to HKD 78.00; China Unicom fell 1.26% to HKD 7.08; and China Telecom fell 1.61% to HKD 4.89.

(The views in this article are for reference only and do not constitute investment advice. Investing involves risk; enter the market with caution.)

Cover and lead graphic source: AI illustration

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