As the world awaits the expected launch of the iPhone 5 next month, China Mobileis still hoping for an iPhone of any version that will work on its mobile internet network.

Shares in the world’s biggest mobile carrier by users suffered their biggest one-day fall in a year yesterday, dropping 5 per cent, after the wireless operator’s results showed it continued to be held back by a home-grown 3G technology that no other mobile network uses. China Mobile’s net profit margin and average revenue per user, an industry measure, both declined in the first half of this year, missing analysts’ expectations.

Unlike local rival China Unicom, which uses an international standard for its 3G service, China Mobile uses a unique, China-pioneered mobile internet standard called TD-SCDMA. This means that on China Mobile’s networks, Apple’s smartphones cannot access the internet at high speeds.