China Mobile Communications Corp, the largest mobile operator in the world, aims to export its experience of balancing social responsibility with business growth to Pakistan, where it has just taken full control of Paktel.

Wang Jianzhou, CEO of China Mobile and chairman and CEO of its Hong Kong-listed arm China Mobile Ltd, said social responsibility should be a top priority for companies that aspire to become global giants.

In the past seven years, Beijing-headquartered China Mobile has more than tripled the number of its subscribers since its incorporation in 2000 and has become the largest telecom company in terms of subscribers and market capitalization.

"Global growth companies face better opportunities and more challenges, but they also have more social responsibilities," said Wang at the Inaugural Annual Meeting of the New Champions organized by the World Economic Forum in Dalian.

"They should take social responsibility into account when they start their businesses," added Wang, a mentor to the new champion companies, together with Intel Chairman Craig Barrett and Citibank NA Chairman, President and CEO William R Rhodes.

China Mobile has seen its subscribers from the rural regions of the country rise by almost 40 percent in the first half.

Driven by a strong increase in customer numbers and good momentum in its value-added services, China Mobile reported 26 percent year-on-year growth in the first half to 37.91 billion yuan.

At the end of July, it had 338 million subscribers, two-thirds of the total mobile users in the world's most populous country.

The Chinese giant, which took over the fifth-largest Pakistani mobile operator Paktel in March and renamed it CMPak, will follow the same principle to strike a balance between profit and social responsibility in Pakistan.

"We always see ourselves as a local Pakistani company and are highly committed to the market there," said Wang.

His company has committed to invest $800 million in two years to upgrade and expand the networks in Pakistan.

At the end of June, there were 63.15 million mobile subscribers in Pakistan, rising by 45 percent.

On September 2, CMPak won approval from the Pakistani government to secure a 15,000-sq-m plot to build a campus with integrated functions of research and development, training, and commercial use.

(China Daily September 7, 2007)