(Yicai Global) March 13 -- The shares of China Telecom and China Mobile surged after the two mobile network operators said they will raise the share of profits paid out in dividends to investors in the coming years.

China Telecom [SHA: 601728] hit a new high of CNY7.26 (USD1.05) in Shanghai today, after closing up 9.5 percent, while its Hong Kong-listed stock [HKG: 0728] jumped 6.4 percent to HKD4.48 (57 US cents). China Mobile [SHA: 600941] ended 10 percent higher at a record CNY97.89 (USD14.24). In Hong Kong, its shares [HKG: 0941] rose 4.6 percent to HKD64.85 (USD8.27).

China Telecom will gradually increase the percentage of its profits handed to shareholders as dividends to more than 70 percent in the three years following its secondary listing in the Chinese mainland in August 2021, the Beijing-based firm said late yesterday. China Mobile also announced an increase to the same percentage yesterday.

The news also boosted the shares of China’s third state-owned mobile carrier, China Unicom. Its stock [SHA: 600050] climbed 5.4 percent to finish at CNY6.05.

In June and September last year, China Telecom distributed a total dividends of CNY26.5 billion (USD3.9 billion) to investors, with payout ratios of 55 percent and 60 percent of profit, respectively.

After completing its mainland secondary listing in January 2022, China Mobile paid out a total of CNY85.2 billion in dividends, once in June and once in September. The payout ratios were 37 percent and 58 percent, respectively.

Telecoms operators have been focusing on emerging businesses such as cloud computing and big data, in the era of the digital economy, Guosen Securities said in a research report. China has brought in policies to support the construction of digital infrastructure, driving the industry’s growth and making China’s three state telecom operators better investments, it added.

China Telecom and China Mobile will unveil their 2022 financial reports on March 23. China Unicom released its annual report on March 8, showing net profit jumped 16 percent to CNY7.3 billion (USD1.1 billion) from the year before on an 8 percent increase in revenue to CNY354.9 billion (USD51.6 billion).

Editor: Futura Costaglione