Dec. 20 (Bloomberg) -- China Mobile Ltd. extended its lead as the world's biggest wireless operator by subscribers as price- cuts helped it take users from traditional phone companies such as China Telecom Corp., which lost customers for a fourth month.

The wireless carrier gained 6.5 million customers last month after adding a record 6.6 million users in October, raising its total to 362.8 million, the Beijing-based company said in a statement today. China Telecom, the nation's largest fixed-line operator, said it lost 750,000 phone customers last month.

China Mobile and smaller rival China Unicom Ltd. attracted customers by scrapping charges for incoming calls and expanding in smaller towns and villages, where fewer people have mobile phones. The fixed-line carriers, China Telecom and China Netcom Group Corp., are shifting focus toward broadband Internet services to compensate for their loss of subscribers.

Unicom said yesterday its subscribers rose by 1.4 million to 158.9 million in November. The two mobile operators in February started a caller-pays billing system and no longer charge users for calls they receive.

China Telecom lost phone subscribers because of ``intensified market competition, especially from mobile operators' free incoming call packages,'' it said today.

The company added 610,000 broadband Internet users in November, up from 550,000 in October and raising the total to 35.1 million. China Netcom, the smaller of the nation's two fixed-line operators, said today it gained 481,700 Web users, short of the 760,900 phone customers it lost.

China Mobile shares fell 0.4 percent to HK$134.80 at the close of trading in Hong Kong, while Unicom shares gained 0.4 percent to HK$16. China Telecom's stock rose 0.7 percent and China Netcom lost 4.5 percent, its biggest drop since Dec. 7.

To contact the reporter on this story: Janet Ong in Beijing at jong3@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 20, 2007 04:09 EST