China Mobile, the world's largest mobile operator by subscribers, saw its stock price surge to almost HK$50 ($6.4) last week, the highest ever in 5 years, the company said.
China Mobile last week finished the trading day at HK$ 49.6 ($6), up 0.16% from the previous high. The carrier's market capitalization is now "approaching" HK$1 trillion ($128 billion).
The carrier said its stock price had kept dropping since 2001 and slipped to the lowest level of around HK$15 ($1.9), after going on an upward trend.
The carrier further reported that in the first half of this year, the company registered some 25.7 million new subscribers, or a growth of 4.3 million per month, outpacing its biggest rivals China Unicom and China Telecom.
An industry source meanwhile said the "prolonged" release of 3G licenses is the main stimulator behind the rise of China Mobile's stock price. The source however did not elaborate saying only that China Mobile is striving for a bigger market share by attracting new customers before the official release of 3G licenses in the mainland.