China Telecom Corp reported a 29 percent fall in net profit for the first half yesterday after the country's biggest fixed-line phone carrier said it incurred more costs for marketing its mobile-phone services.

Revenue for the six months rose 14 percent to 103.15 billion yuan. The company's net profit for the period fell to 9 billion yuan from 12.63 billion yuan a year back.

Wang Xiaochu, chairman and chief executive of China Telecom, said he expects business to recover next year.