Gelonghui, April 24 | Bank of China International released a report showing that China Telecom had outstanding performance in the first quarter, and the profit margin of industrial digitalization was close to traditional telecom business. Despite China Telecom's strong stock price performance since this year, the dividend rate based on a 72% dividend ratio still reached the attractive 6.4% level. The bank reiterated its “buy” rating and industry first choice, and the target price remained at HK$5.53. According to the bank, China Telecom's first-quarter profit increased by 7.7% year-on-year, and telecom service revenue also increased by 5% year-on-year. Although the industry's digital revenue growth rate reached 10.6% year-on-year, and contributed 31% of the Group's service revenue, the comprehensive EBITDA rate decreased by only 0.4 percentage points from year to year (the comprehensive EBITDA rate is expected to drop 0.7 percentage points for the whole year), indicating that its 2B business is close to the scale of the economy, and operating leverage continues to improve.