(Telecompaper) China Mobile announced first-half revenues up 10.4 percent year-on-year to CNY 303.1 billion. EBITDA was up a slower 0.5 percent to CNY 123.7 billion, giving a margin of 40.8 percent, and net profit rose 1.5 percent to CNY 63.1 billion. The operator finished the quarter with 740 million customers, up 8.4 percent from a year earlier. Of the total, 137 million were using 3G services, with aroudn 50 million new users added in the six months. China Mobile reported mobile data revenues up 62 percent from a year earlier to CNY 47.4 billion, and the operator sold 66 million 3G phones in the period. The 3G network had around 361,000 base stations at the end of the period, with network utilisation at 25 percent. China Mobile said it was also starting work on building 200,000 LTE base stations across the country to cover 100 major cities. In addition it has 4.1 million Wi-Fi hotspots deployed. The operator proposed an interim dividend of HKD 1.696 per share and said it plans a full-year pay-out ratio of 43 percent of profit.