China Mobile, the world's largest wireless operator, yesterday showed it was not immune to the impact of the global financial crisis after reporting slowing growth in the final quarter of 2008 as China's exports slumped and consumers cut expenses.

The telecoms operator said fierce competition would also hurt the sector, but added that its strong cash flow would allow it to continue looking for overseas acquisitions. In the fourth quarter, year-on-year earnings growth was 11 per cent, against a 26 per cent increase in the previous quarter.

China last year orchestrated a sweeping reorganisation of the industry into three operators, each with fixed and mobile networks, before it handed out three 3G licences. The reshuffle left China Mobile competing with China Telecom and China Unicom.