China Mobile's first-quarter net profit rose 3.5 percent year on year, despite growing competition from rivals, the company reported Friday.

China Mobile's fourth quarter net profit grew year-over-year by 4.8 percent as the country's largest mobile operator continues to add more customers.

China will likely wait another two or three years to issue 4G licenses for LTE TDD networks, a top government official said, citing the need to build more 4G base stations, and to allow vendors time to develop handsets that can take advantage of the high-speed networks.

Mobile operators highlighted cooperation with developers and other partners, while emphasizing things only they can do, in a keynote session on the opening day of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Apple could sell as many as 40 million iPhones in China next year by partnering up with China Telecom and China Mobile, an analyst has said.

Clearwire will test its LTE network in two U.S. cities and China Mobile will build test networks in select Chinese cities early this year to foster development of a global ecosystem for the version of the technology they will be using.

Beijing aims to create more free Wi-Fi hotspots across major public areas in the city, including shopping centers and subway stations as part of a city government effort to promote greater Internet use among residents.

China's top IT firms have pledged to step up the regulation of their services as government authorities have intensified calls to control the development of the nation's Internet.