Independent Auditor's Report

TO THE SHAREHOLDERS OF CHINA TELECOM CORPORATION LIMITED

(Incorporated in The People’s Republic of China with limited liability)

Opinion

We have audited the consolidated financial statements of China Telecom Corporation Limited (the “Company”) and its subsidiaries (collectively referred to as the “Group”) set out on pages 147 to 221, which comprise the consolidated statement of financial position as at 31 December 2017, and the consolidated statement of comprehensive income, consolidated statement of changes in equity and consolidated statement of cash flows for the year then ended, and notes to the consolidated financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies.

In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements give a true and fair view of the consolidated financial position of the Group as at 31 December 2017, and of its consolidated financial performance and its consolidated cash flows for the year then ended in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRSs”) and have been properly prepared in compliance with the disclosure requirements of the Hong Kong Companies Ordinance.

Basis for Opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with Hong Kong Standards on Auditing (“HKSAs”) issued by the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants (“HKICPA”). Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s Responsibilities for the Audit of the Consolidated Financial Statements section of our report. We are independent of the Group in accordance with the HKICPA’s Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (“the Code”), and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with the Code. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Key Audit Matters

Key audit matters are those matters that, in our professional judgment, were of most significance in our audit of the consolidated financial statements of the current period. These matters were addressed in the context of our audit of the consolidated financial statements as a whole, and in forming our opinion thereon, and we do not provide a separate opinion on these matters.

Key audit matter

Revenue recognition

We identified revenue recognition as a key audit matter because there is an inherent industry risk around the accuracy of revenue recorded by the IT billing systems given the complexity of the systems and the significance of volumes of data processed by the systems.

Revenues from the provision of telecommunications services are, in general, recognised when services are provided to customers. Fees for telecommunications packages are recognised for each service type in the packages. The data records are captured and the revenue transactions are recorded by the IT billing systems.

Details of the accounting policies for revenue recognition and an analysis of revenues are disclosed in Notes 2(o) and 22, respectively, to the consolidated financial statements.

Valuation of goodwill and long-lived assets

We identified the valuation of goodwill and long-lived assets as a key audit matter because the impairment assessment of goodwill and long-lived assets requires the management to exercise significant judgments relating to the estimation of level of revenue, amount of operating costs and applicable discount rate.

Details of the accounting policies for impairment of goodwill and long-lived assets and the related accounting estimates are disclosed in Notes 2(n) and 42, respectively, to the consolidated financial statements. Details of goodwill impairment assessment are disclosed in Note 6 to the consolidated financial statements.

Depreciable lives of property, plant and equipment

We identified the depreciable lives of property, plant and equipment as a key audit matter because it requires the management to exercise significant judgment in relation to the estimate of depreciable lives of the assets considering the nature, timing and likelihood of changes to the technical factors which may affect the useful life expectancy of the assets and therefore could have a material impact on the depreciation expense for the year.

The management reviews the estimated depreciable lives and the residual value of property, plant and equipment annually. After conducting a review on the depreciable lives of the property, plant and equipment of the Group during this year, the Group resolved to change the accounting estimates of the depreciable lives of certain equipment.

Details of the related accounting estimates are disclosed in Note 42 to the consolidated financial statements. Details of the change in accounting estimates of the depreciable lives of certain equipment are disclosed in Note 4 to the consolidated financial statements.

Classification of lease arrangement with China Tower Corporation Limited (“China Tower”)

We identified the classification of lease arrangement with China Tower as a key audit matter because it requires the use of significant management judgment regarding the classification of operating or finance lease.

The Group entered into lease agreements with China Tower regarding the leases of telecommunications towers and related assets. The Group classified the arrangements as operating leases.

Details of the related accounting judgment are disclosed in Note 42 to the consolidated financial statements.

How our audit addressed the key audit matter

Our procedures in relation to revenue recognition comprising both control testing and substantive procedures on a sample basis, included involving our internal IT specialists to assist with:

Testing the IT environment in which the billing systems reside, including interface controls between different IT applications.
Testing the key controls over the calculation of the amounts billed to customers and the capturing and recording of the revenue transactions.
Testing the key controls over the authorisation of the rate changes and the input of such rates to the billing systems.
Testing the end-to-end reconciliations from data records to the billing systems and to the general ledger.
Testing material journals processed between the billing systems and the general ledger.
Testing the accuracy of customer bill calculations and the respective revenue transactions recorded.

Our procedures in relation to the valuation of goodwill and long-lived assets included:

With the assistance of our internal valuation specialists, assessing the discount rate and assumptions used by the management in the value in use model and comparing the discount rate used by the management to externally derived data and our own assessments of key inputs used in deriving the discount rate.
With the assistance of our internal valuation specialists, comparing the key inputs to the projected cash flows, such as the number of subscribers, average revenue per subscriber and amount of operating cost, with corresponding historical data to evaluate the reasonableness of the management’s projections.
Assessing and challenging the significant judgments and estimates used in the management’s impairment assessment and evaluating the sensitivity analysis performed by the management.

Our procedures in relation to the depreciable lives of the property, plant and equipment included:

Testing the key controls over the management’s judgment in relation to the accounting estimates of the depreciable lives of property, plant and equipment.
Assessing the management’s estimates on the useful lives of property, plant and equipment with reference to: (1) the consistency with the Group’s expected consumption pattern of economic benefits embodied in the respective assets and future operating plans including acquisitions and retirements of property, plant and equipment; (2) the comparison to the policies adopted by other comparable telecommunications operators; and (3) consideration of the Group’s historical experience, the latest equipment model information from the third party vendors and our knowledge of the telecommunications industry.
Challenging the assumptions and critical judgements used by the management by comparing the management’s past estimates and plans with the current year’s estimates and plans taking into account recent development in the telecommunications industry and market conditions.

Our procedures in relation to the classification of lease arrangements with China Tower included:

Assessing the key terms of the lease agreements on a sample basis and understanding how they were applied in the management’s assessment of the lease classification.
Assessing the appropriateness of the management’s assessment of the lease classification by: (1) understanding the management’s expectation of the use of the assets at the end of the lease term and modifications required on the assets; (2) comparing the lease terms in the agreements with the major part of economic lives of the assets; and (3) assessing the calculation of the present value of minimum lease payments made by the management, challenging the key assumptions used by the management and comparing the present value of minimum lease payments with the fair value of the assets.

Other Information

The directors of the Company are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the annual report, but does not include the consolidated financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon.

Our opinion on the consolidated financial statements does not cover the other information and we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

In connection with our audit of the consolidated financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the consolidated financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact. We have nothing to report in this regard.

Responsibilities of Directors and Those Charged with Governance for the Consolidated Financial Statements

The directors of the Company are responsible for the preparation of the consolidated financial statements that give a true and fair view in accordance with IFRSs and the disclosure requirements of the Hong Kong Companies Ordinance, and for such internal control as the directors determine is necessary to enable the preparation of consolidated financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the consolidated financial statements, the directors are responsible for assessing the Group’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the directors either intend to liquidate the Group or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Those charged with governance are responsible for overseeing the Group’s financial reporting process.

Auditor’s Responsibilities for the Audit of the Consolidated Financial Statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion solely to you, as a body, in accordance with our agreed terms of engagement, and for no other purpose. We do not assume responsibility towards or accept liability to any other person for the contents of this report. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with HKSAs will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these consolidated financial statements.

As part of an audit in accordance with HKSAs, we exercise professional judgment and maintain professional skepticism throughout the audit. We also:

Identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to fraud or error, design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks, and obtain audit evidence that is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion. The risk of not detecting a material misstatement resulting from fraud is higher than for one resulting from error, as fraud may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal control.
Obtain an understanding of internal control relevant to the audit in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Group’s internal control.
Evaluate the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting estimates and related disclosures made by the directors.
Conclude on the appropriateness of the directors’ use of the going concern basis of accounting and, based on the audit evidence obtained, whether a material uncertainty exists related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the Group’s ability to continue as a going concern. If we conclude that a material uncertainty exists, we are required to draw attention in our auditor’s report to the related disclosures in the consolidated financial statements or, if such disclosures are inadequate, to modify our opinion. Our conclusions are based on the audit evidence obtained up to the date of our auditor’s report. However, future events or conditions may cause the Group to cease to continue as a going concern.
Evaluate the overall presentation, structure and content of the consolidated financial statements, including the disclosures, and whether the consolidated financial statements represent the underlying transactions and events in a manner that achieves fair presentation.
Obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence regarding the financial information of the entities or business activities within the Group to express an opinion on the consolidated financial statements. We are responsible for the direction, supervision and performance of the group audit. We remain solely responsible for our audit opinion.

We communicate with those charged with governance regarding, among other matters, the planned scope and timing of the audit and significant audit findings, including any significant deficiencies in internal control that we identify during our audit.

We also provide those charged with governance with a statement that we have complied with relevant ethical requirements regarding independence, and to communicate with them all relationships and other matters that may reasonably be thought to bear on our independence, and where applicable, related safeguards.

From the matters communicated with those charged with governance, we determine those matters that were of most significance in the audit of the consolidated financial statements of the current period and are therefore the key audit matters. We describe these matters in our auditor’s report unless law or regulation precludes public disclosure about the matter or when, in extremely rare circumstances, we determine that a matter should not be communicated in our report because the adverse consequences of doing so would reasonably be expected to outweigh the public interest benefits of such communication.

The engagement partner on the audit resulting in the independent auditor’s report is Lam Kwok Yan.

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
Certified Public Accountants
Hong Kong
28 March 2018