?China Mobile (Hong Kong) Ltd., the Hong Kong-listed arm of the world's largest mobile operator by subscribers, said Friday it added 3.96 million new customers in December, its biggest monthly increase in 2005.

December's figure was slightly higher than the 3.92 million new subscribers reported for November. It raised the carrier's total number of new customers in 2005 to 42.36 million, an 11 percent rise from the 38.17 million added in 2004.

China Mobile recorded its smallest monthly gain of 2005 in February, when it added 3.09 million subscribers.

The carrier said 3.84 million of its new customers in December were prepaid subscribers while 116,000 were contract customers.