The Caymen Islands-based company, which sells its services through China Mobile and China Unicom has an impressive growth record. In the year to December 31, net income rose 128.9% to CNY 322.19m ($38.9m) on revenue 88.7% higher at CNY 734.9m ($88.7m).
Tencent believes the biggest growth is still to come because penetration rates of telecoms in China is significantly lower than developed markets in Asia with only 20.4% of the 1.292.3 million population with access to fixed-line communications, and 20.8% with access to mobile communications.
However, growth has been swift and the number of mobile subscribers in China increased from 25 million at the end of 1998 to 268.7 million at the end of 2003. Communications consultants Pyramid Research forecast that the number of China’s mobile subscribers will reach 502.1 million
According to researchers at China Inter Network Information Center (CNNIC) the number of internet users in China increased from 2.1 million in 1998 to 79.5 million in 2003. IDC predicts that the number of internet users in China will reach approximately 154 million by 2007
Tencent said its primary business activities include internet value-added services, mobile and telecommunications value-added services, and online advertising.
