'Elephant running'

Wang took the helm of China Mobile in 2004. Over the past seven years, the company has consolidated its leading position in the domestic market. Boasting a huge subscriber base and market value, it has undergone rapid development.

In particular, between 2004 and 2008, China Mobile achieved double-digit growth rates both in revenue and net profit. Wang described it as an "elephant running".

In 2004, the revenue and net profit of China Mobile Ltd was 192.4 billion yuan and 42 billion yuan, respectively. The figures almost tripled and reached 528 billon yuan and 125.9 billion yuan in 2011. The combined net profit of rivals China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd and China Telecom Corp Ltd in 2011 was 20.7 billion yuan.

During the same period, China Mobile's subscriber base grew to about 650 million in 2011 from 204 million in 2004. The company started to provide third-generation (3G) wireless network services in 2009, and achieved more than 51 million 3G service users, or about 40 percent of China's 3G market, by the end of 2011, the most among the three Chinese operators.

One of the most important driving forces of China Mobile's development came from the exploration of China's rural market, which has a population of more than 700 million.

When Wang first came up with the idea to extend China Mobile's services to rural areas, investors raised their opposition because they thought such business would bring little profit for the company.

However, Wang insisted on the strategy and created a practical business model for low-end rural users by slicing the marketing cost greatly.

The financial results showed that Wang was right. In the following three years from 2006 to 2008, the average net-profit growth rate reached 28.3 percent annually. The increase in subscribers became the major earnings momentum and nearly half of new users came from rural markets.

For Wang, the service coverage in rural areas had more significance than merely making money. An extraordinary company stands out because of its contribution to society, rather than its huge scale, Wang wrote in his book Davos Notes, which was published in September 2011.