China Mobile appoints new Guangdong chief

China Mobile Ltd appointed its provincial head in Zhejiang province to take charge in Guangdong province after a high level official in the company's Guandong branch was ousted on charges of "severe disciplinary violations".

China Mobile, the world's biggest telecom operator by user base, confirmed on Thursday that Zhong Tianhua, former general manager of China Mobile in Zhejiang, will assume positions as provincial chairman, Party chief and general manager in the southern province of Guangdong.

Officials from China Mobile said the company's Guangdong subsidiary had held a meeting to announce Zhong's appointment on Wednesday. Xi Guohua, chairman of China Mobile, together with Huang Wenlin, China Mobile's discipline inspection team director, were present, according to sources.

Earlier this month, Chinese media reported Xu Long, China Mobile's provincial chairman and Party chief of Guangdong province was recently removed from his posts and is under investigation by the "relevant department".

Guangdong has always been the most important revenue contributor for China Mobile.

In 2012, China Mobile Guangdong realized net profit of 23.8 billion yuan ($3.89 billion), or 18.4 percent of China Mobile's total annual net profit, according to reports on news portal sina.com.

Rumors also circulated that China Mobile was about to set up a subsidiary in Guangdong specifically operating Internet-related businesses. However, Xu's removal may hamper China Mobile's progress in grabbing bigger shares in the Mobile Internet sector.