China Tower benefited from a move to provide value-added services from its nationwide tower assets in 2021, booking growth in its smart tower and energy businesses.

In a statement, chairman Zhang Zhiyong detailed ongoing plans to shift its focus from only leasing resources to delivering digital applications including tower monitoring to drive margins.

He said the new monitoring unit achieved rapid growth and established its brand after developing a national platform and cooperating with industry partners.

Net profit in 2021 grew 14 per cent year-on-year to CNY7.3 billion ($1.2 billion), with operating revenue up 6.8 per cent to CNY86.6 billion.

Smart tower revenue grew 35.2 per cent to CNY4.1 billion, with its new tower monitoring unit generating CNY2.1 billion.

Sales from its energy business rose 121.5 per cent to CNY2.1 billion.

Tower business revenue increased 3.4 per cent to CNY75.9 billion and indoor DAS 23 per cent to CNY4.3 billion.

The company completed about 552,000 5G construction projects and 15,000 tower sites to end the year with 2 million.

Total tenants rose by 85,000 to 3.3 million, pushing the average number per tower from 1.57 to 1.6.

DAS building coverage rose 22.9 per cent to a total of 5 billion square metres, while the combined length of high-speed railway tunnels and subways covered reached 16,906km, up 33.1 per cent.