The world's biggest phone company by subscribers

China Mobile Ltd., the world's biggest phone company by subscribers, said Friday it has dismissed its vice chairman, who a business magazine reported is being investigated for misconduct when he worked for another carrier. Zhang Chunjiang, a prominent figure in China's state-owned telecoms industry, was earlier fired as an executive of China Mobile's parent company and secretary of its Communist Party committee, according to state media. Zhang was removed effective Thursday as China Mobile's deputy chairman, the company said in a statement through the Hong Kong stock exchange.The US-based company said a total of 263 airplanes were ordered last year, down from 662 in 2008. But the number of commercial aircraft it actually delivered last year rose 28% to 481. Boeing said the global recession and the resulting fall in demand for air travel was to blame for the decline in orders. Net orders - which take into account cancellations - were down to 142 for the year. Boeing's chief executive Jim Albaugh said that 2009 had been "not without its challenges", but said that the future was brighter. "With signs of economic recovery emerging in 2010, we look forward to better days ahead," he said. Unfulfilled orders stood at 3,375 by the end of the year, with 851 of those for the 787 Dreamliner. The Dreamliner, which saw its first flight in 2009, is now slated for first deliveries at the end of 2010 following numerous delays. Boeing's European competitor Airbus is due to report its order figures on 12 January. It cited "alleged serious financial irregularities" and gave no details. But China's most prominent business magazine, Caijing, said he was suspected of hiding losses at another state-owned phone company where he was chairman before he joined China Mobile in 2008. A top anti-corruption official said Thursday investigators will look closely at executives at state-owned enterprises this year after dozens of managers were implicated in misconduct in 2009, according to state media. Chronic corruption is fueling public anger that communist leaders have warned could erode the party's grip on power. Thousands of government and party figures are punished every year for corruption, and some are executed, but authorities have given no indication whether the problem is abating. "We will push ahead with investigations and try to curb corruption in SOEs," said the deputy minister of supervision, Qu Wanxiang, according to the newspaper China Daily. He said investigators would look at restructuring, mergers and acquisitions, real estate dealings and construction projects. Zhang, a former chairman of China Netcom Ltd., is suspected of concealing losses ahead of a 2008 merger with rival China Unicom Ltd. in hopes of becoming boss of the combined entity, Caijing said. It said Netcom reported 2003 losses of 11.1 billion yuan ($1.3 billion at that time), while auditors later found losses of up to 20 billion yuan. China Mobile says it has 518 million mobile accounts. Among other cases, the former chairman of Sinopec Ltd., China's second-biggest oil company, was convicted in July of taking 196 million yuan ($29 million) in bribes and received a suspended death sentence. The following month, the former boss of the company that runs airports in Beijing and other Chinese cities was put to death for taking bribes. The former general manager of the China National Nuclear Corp., a major power plant builder and operator, has been under investigation for unspecified violations since August, according to the government's Xinhua News Agency.