China Mobile's Russian Unit Doubles Revenue to 461 Million Rubles, but Loss Widens to 85 Million

China Mobile's Russian entity, China Mobile International (Russia), increased its 2025 revenue by 111.8% to 461.4 million rubles, up from 217.9 million a year earlier. Net loss over the same period grew by 146%, from 34.7 million to 85.3 million rubles. TAdviser found the figures in October 2026 in the company's financial statements, published on the Federal Tax Service (FNS) website.

The scale is small. At 2025 exchange rates, annual revenue comes to roughly 5–6 million dollars, a negligible fraction of the turnover of the world's largest operator by subscriber count. But the trend shows how the Chinese telecom is building its presence in Russia.

What the filing shows

Key figures for 2025:

• revenue: 461.4 million rubles (217.9 million in 2024), up 111.8%;
• net loss: 85.3 million rubles (34.7 million in 2024), up 146%;
• gross profit: 65.2 million rubles, about 5.4 times last year's figure;
• gross margin: about 14%, versus roughly 5–6% a year earlier (calculated from the figures above);
• net margin: about minus 18.5%, versus minus 16% in 2024.

Revenue doubled, while the loss grew even faster. Gross profit improved markedly, which means the company earns considerably more from the services themselves than before. Below the gross profit line, selling and administrative expenses, interest and other items eat it up. The excerpt from the filing contains no breakdown of these items, so it is impossible to determine the cause of the loss from it. Typical candidates are personnel costs, rent, network maintenance and intragroup payments.

How the company may make money

The entity's name points to the international division of the group, China Mobile International. Such units usually serve carriers and businesses rather than mass retail customers. Their work typically covers international traffic and roaming agreements, communication links between Russia and China, services for Chinese companies operating in the Russian market, and related IT services.

This describes a typical model, not data from the filing. The FNS public forms do not disclose a revenue breakdown by product. TAdviser's headline question, what exactly the operator earns money from, cannot be answered from financial statements alone. That would require comments from the company or data on its contracts.

Doubling revenue while the loss grows fits a business-buildout phase. Staff, infrastructure and partner channels appear before revenue covers costs. In such cases the parent group is usually willing to fund the subsidiary while it establishes its position. But this too is only an assumption: the available figures do not show how the loss is financed.

What to watch next

For anyone following the Russian telecom and IT infrastructure market, there are three useful reference points.

1. Gross margin trend. If it stays around 14% or rises in 2026, the revenue growth is high quality. If it falls, the volume was bought with discounts. 2. Cost structure. If a full-form filing is disclosed, check what exactly doubled the loss: operating costs, or financial and intragroup items. 3. Link to Chinese business in Russia. The turnover of such units is often tied to trade volumes and the number of Chinese companies in the market, so it makes sense to compare it with the overall trend in Russia–China contacts.

For telecom service providers, integrators and IT contractors, the takeaway is practical: the Chinese operator in Russia remains small by revenue, but doubling in a year makes it a visible player in the international connectivity niche. It is reasonable to track its tenders and partnerships, and the 2026 filing will show whether it reaches break-even.