(Telecompaper) China Telecom reported first-half revenues up 14.1 percent to CNY 157.5 billion, driven by its expanding mobile business. EBITDA surged 35.5 percent higher to CNY 139.2 billion, helping the margin improve 6.8 percent points compared to a year earlier to 36.0 percent. Net profit rose 15.9 percent to CNY 10.2 billion. Mobile service revenues were up 28.3 percent to CNY 54.6 billion, thanks to strong demand for 3G services. The operator added 18.28 million 3G users in the six months, for a total 87.33 million at the end of June, and mobile data revenues were up 35.8 percent year-on-year to CNY 26.2 billion in H1. Customers with 3G handsets used an average 168 MB per month in the first half, up 51 percent from a year ago. The growth in data services helped ARPU increase 3.6 percent year-on-year to CNY 54.3. The total mobile customer base rose by 30 million lines compared to a year ago to 174.50 million. China Telecom said network expansion was helping drive the growth in 3G, and it will launch a LTE network to sustain the growth. Capex was up slightly in H1 at CNY 33.1 billion, and the operator plans to spend around CNY 75 billion over the full year. Despite free cash flow of CNY 13.8 billion in the first half, China Telecom said it will not pay an interim dividend, in order to maintain flexibility in funding.