The Shannon-Hartley theorem for channel capacity presupposes signal transmission over time-invariant Gaussian channels. In a mobile radio environment, communications channels have randomly time-variant characteristics. In this paper, an expression for the average capacity of Rician fading channels is derived. It is shown that the average capacity of Rician channels is always lower than that of the Gaussian channel, while the Rayleigh channel capacity values represent the worst situation. In addition, the Rician channel capacity is examined when reception by a maximal-ratio combining technique with M-branches is employed, indicating its positive effect on channel average capacity when weak signal power or severe fading conditions are present. Finally, the relation between Rician and Rayleigh fading environment with respect to channel average capacity is discussed.