Vodafone has been the world’s largest mobile phone company for as long as any of us can remember – not any more. On Friday China Mobile became the world's most valuable listed mobile operator when its market value moved ahead of Vodafone's...China Mobile's shares closed at HK$51.50, valuing the company at £69.6bn. Vodafone's shares, which have lost about 6 per cent of their value in the past week, closed at 110p in London, valuing the company at £64bn.China Mobile also now claims to be the world's largest mobile phone operator ranked by number of subscribers. It has more than 200m customers while Vodafone has 186m customers worldwide.A spokesman for Vodafone said: "It's not about size, it's about service to customers and the value we can pass onto shareholders."These being the same shareholders that held Sarin’s job in the balance at last months annual meeting.This change of fortunes is an indication of where the markets believe further industry growth is to be found, with China Mobile only operating in a single country with plans to expand.
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