CHINA Mobile said its third quarter net profit rose just 3.4 percent as telecommunications service providers compete aggressively to attract users in the country with the largest number of mobile phone users.

The profit at the telco, the world's largest telecom service provider by subscribers, was 30.7 billion yuan (US$4.81 billion) in the three months ended September 30, compared with 29.7 billion yuan in the same quarter last year.

The telco has introduced smartphones, including Research in Motion's Blackberry, to attract more users to its 3G network to maintain its lead over China Telecom Corp and China Unicom.

China Mobile's net profit in the first nine months of this year was 91.98 billion yuan, up 5.4 percent from a year ago, it said in a filing to the Hong Kong bourse yesterday.