THE parent of China Mobile Ltd., the world’s largest mobile network operator by total subscribers, plans to increase its stake in the wireless carrier by buying as much as 5 billion yuan (US$789 million) of its Shanghai-traded shares. China Mobile Communications Group Co. intends to buy 3 billion yuan to 5 billion yuan of the listed firm’s A shares by the end of this year, according to a filing with the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Sunday. The company didn’t specify a purchase price for the shares. The proposed stake increase demonstrates China Mobile Communications’ confidence in China Mobile’s future development and recognition of its long-term investment value, according to the exchange filing. The move will also boost investor confidence in the company, it said. On Friday, China Mobile Communications bought about 710 million yuan of shares, representing a 0.058 percent stake in China Mobile, according to the filing. China Mobile closed at 57.58 yuan Friday in Shanghai, matching its offering price. The stock had begun trading in Shanghai on Jan. 5, touching a high of 63.58 yuan. The company raised 48.7 billion yuan by selling 845.7 million shares at 57.58 yuan each in Shanghai in China’s biggest public share offering in a decade. China Mobile said it plans to use proceeds from the Shanghai offering to develop projects including premium 5G networks, infrastructure for cloud resources and intelligent ecosystems. The firm announced before its Shanghai trading debut that it will buy back up to US$12.6 billion worth of its Hong Kong listed shares, or up to 2.05 billion shares, on the market using existing cash and working capital. China Mobile said the buyback would represent about 10 percent of its issued shares in Hong Kong and the purchased shares would be canceled. (SD-Agencies) | 