Telco seeks openings via investment

China Telecom Corp plans to invest 50 billion yuan (US$7.6 billion) this year to grow its base of 3G mobile phone users and acquire network assets from parent firm.

The amount to be invested this year is an increase from 43 billion yuan spent last year.

The country's third-biggest mobile operator will complete the purchase of a third-generation CDMA mobile phone network, valued at about 90 billion yuan, from its parent firm by the end of next year, Wang Xiaochu, chairman of China Telecom, said yesterday.

"The next two to three years will be a prime period of strategic opportunities for us. Product convergence will be a trend in the telecommunications industry," Wang said in a statement.

"We are also facing intense challenges from increasingly fierce competition in existing and new businesses," Wang added.

Through aggressive promotions, including heavy handset subsidies, China Telecom's mobile user base soared 61.4 percent from a year ago to 90.52 million by the end of 2010. Its number of 3G users tripled from a year ago to 12.29 million.

Net profit for the country's biggest fixed-line network operator rose an annual 15 percent to 15.26 billion yuan in 2010 on its growing mobile and broadband business.