The Company's operation was on track as planned for the first three quarters of 2009. Excluding the amortization of upfront connection fees of RMB872 million, operating revenues was RMB154,748 million, representing an increase of 15.3% over the corresponding period of last year. The profit attributable to equity holders of the Company was RMB11,392 million, representing a decline of 33.9% over the same period of last year. EBITDA was RMB63,556 million, representing a decrease of 3.9% over the corresponding period of last year. The Company believes that the implementation of profitable scale development of mobile service would lead to an increase in marketing initiatives, which would result in short term pressure on the Company's profitability. However, it would significantly enhance the future sustainable development and value creation of the Company.

Now, China Telecom is entering into the new era of full services integrated operations. The next two to three years will be an important strategic opportunity for it. The Company will adhere to the "Customer-Focused Innovative Informatisation Strategy" while implementing initiatives to consolidate wireline services. 3G business development will be a golden chance for it to integrate the 3G services into its full services integrated operations, so as to achieve unified deployment and steady corporate development. China Telecom will persist in integrated operations and differentiated development, leveraging the synergies of its wireline and mobile networks. The Company will bundle its core services such as wireline, Internet and information content and application with mobile services while fully utilising the strengths of CDMA technology. The Company will carry out business integration and innovation, integrate its products, in accordance with the needs of its customers and established competitive edge through differentiated offerings. The Company will provide its customers with enriched and more convenient integrated information services capitalizing on its full services integrated operations.

In the first half of 2009, the Company actively pushed forward the integrated packaging of mobile and wireline services, leading to the rapid expansion of mobile subscriber base. The number of mobile subscribers has increased by 11.37 million in the first half of the year, with a total number of 39.28 million mobile subscribers. The net addition market share rose from 12.0% in January 2009 to 28.7% in June 2009, demonstrating a gradual improvement on monthly basis, while the ARPU was RMB63.6, which primarily remained stable.

With the fastest pace, the Company has constructed the largest scale 3G network for the earliest commercial use in mainland China. By the end of July, we accomplished 3G network coverage of 342 cities and more than 2,000 counties, laying a solid foundation for seizing market opportunities.

In the first half of 2009, the total revenue from non-voice services was RMB52,443 million, accounting for 51.2% of total revenue, amongst which the revenues from wireline broadband access as well as wireline value-added and integrated information services increased by 18.2% and 15.6% respectively. In the first half of the year, the total number of wireline broadband customers has increased by 4.78 million on a net basis, reaching a total of 49.05 million. Moreover, the mobile VAS and integrated information services showed diversified and rapid development. Color Ringtone subscriber number reached 19.6 million, SMS usage volume reached 6.2 billion, and wireless Internet access subscriber number reached 4 million.

The Company will further enhance its resource allocation to reinforce the development of the VAS & integrated information services, targeting the informatization demand from government & enterprise, household and individual, and leveraging the integrated operation of wireline and mobile.

In the first half of 2009, the Company had a strict control on the scale of capital expenditure and further optimized its structure, tilting towards the development of broadband, transformation and integrated services, which supported a strong free cash flow of the Company. The CAPEX for the first half of 2009 was RMB17,033 million, a decrease of 9.3% over the same period last year. The full year CAPEX will be controlled within budget of RMB39,200 million.

Taking into consideration the return to shareholders, the Company's cash flow and its capital requirements for future development, the Board of Directors recommended to the shareholders at the Annual General Meeting that the dividend for the year of 2008 being an equivalent of HK$0.085 per share, which is the same as 2007, despite the 2008 results being severely impacted by certain one-off items. This fully reflects the confidence of the Board of Directors in the future business development. We will strive to take into account of the return to shareholders and the future cash flow requirement with a view to maximizing value for shareholders.