June 26 (Bloomberg) -- China Mobile Ltd., the world’s biggest phone carrier, is interested in investing in Africa, where it can boost services in rural areas, Chairman Wang Jianzhou said.
The company doesn’t have any acquisition targets in Africa yet and hasn’t identified a specific region on the continent where it would like to invest, Wang said in an interview at the Fortune Global Forum in Cape Town today.
China Mobile is searching for investments and acquisitions to revive profit growth and expand its overseas operations. Parent company China Mobile Communications Corp. bought Pakistan’s Paktel Ltd., its first overseas acquisition, in 2007.
“We are interested in doing business in Africa, but we have no target company now,” Wang said. “We are still looking at options. We would like to use our experience” in expanding services in rural areas. “If we have an opportunity, we’d like to use that in African markets.”
The Beijing-based company this year agreed to buy a 20 percent stake in Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Co., a move that Wang said will help boost its wireless payment and finance operations.
“The purpose is to push business for mobile payments,” said Wang. “We hope the mobile phone will become a device for payments.”
Investment in Africa, the world’s poorest continent, is rising as investors seek to tap a market that has just surpassed 1 billion people and China’s drive for commodities, such as copper and steel, boosts economic growth. Sub-Saharan Africa’s economy will probably expand 5.9 percent in 2011, up from an estimated 4.7 percent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund.
Domestic Market Potential
China Mobile still sees “huge potential” in its domestic market as it expands operations in China’s rural areas, and increases data and financial services, Wang said.
“In rural areas, there is still low penetration,” Wang said. “We still have big potential for growth. China Mobile will continue to grow in the domestic market.”
China Mobile said on April 20 first-quarter profit rose 1.1 percent to 25.5 billion yuan ($3.8 billion), trailing the 26.9 billion yuan median analysts’ estimate in a Bloomberg survey. The carrier added fewer subscribers in the first three months this year as competition from China Telecom Corp. and China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. intensified.
