China Telecom woos 50% revenue from non-voice services by 2009

China Telecom<728>, the nation's largest fixed telecom service operator, aims to raise revenue from non-voice business up to 50% of its overall revenue in two years, in a bid to offset the slumped earning in the traditional fixed-line phone business, sources reported.

The operator gained around 36.5% of its total revenue from data, Internet broadband and other non-voice services in 2007, sources quoted Chairman Wang Xiaochu as saying.

China Telecom suffered an unexpected loss of 13% in net profit for the fiscal year of 2007, dragged by the declined sales from upfront connection fee, and the expenditure of assets reevaluation, said the company on Monday.