China Mobile Q4 profit up 37 pct, beats forecasts

China Mobile Ltd <0941.hk>, the world's top mobile phone firm, beat forecasts on Wednesday with a 37 percent rise in quarterly profit, amid healthy subscriber growth.

China Mobile posted net profit of 27.2 billion yuan ($3.85 billion) for the three months ended Dec. 31, compared to 19.9 billion yuan a year earlier, the company said in a statement.

The result beat an average of analyst forecasts for net profit of 23.61 billion yuan, according to 27 analysts polled by Reuters Estimates.

Full-year net profit rose 32 percent to 87.1 billion yuan in 2007 compared with an average forecast of 83.5 billion yuan.

As subscriber growth in China's big cities slows, China Mobile is battling fiercely with smaller rival Unicom <0762.hk> to sign up more rural customers in the world's largest telecoms market.

($1=7.066 Yuan)