Though it has not reached a final agreement with China Unicom on the price of acquiring the latter's CDMA network, China Telecom has already begun to make arrangements for the operation of the network.
According to Enet.com.cn, China Telecom has signed a memorandum of understanding with Qualcomm. The report says that the MOU signed between the parties was expected to take effect after the Chinese government's announcement of the telecom restructuring. However, it has been postponed to become effective by the end of May due to various reasons.
It is estimated that China Telecom's asset value will reach RMB500 billion after the transaction.
Besides Qualcomm, a shareholder of China Unicom, was also quoted by local media that they hoped to expand their cooperation with other Chinese telecom operators, including China Telecom.
Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd., an affiliate of Hutchison Whampoa, says it has signed with Apple to sell the popular iPhone in Hong Kong and Macau by the end of this year.
However, Hutchison Telecom has not disclosed whether the iPhone will use 3G.
Apple reportedly has signed a number of sales agreements on iPhone, which is expected to enter Singapore, India, Australia and the Philippines later this year, but the company has not made any comment on when the product will come to mainland Chinese and Japanese markets.
As Hutchison Telecom takes over 50% of the share in Hong Kong's 3G market, the introduction of the iPhone should help it further expand its 3G user number if indeed the iPhone will be 3G-enabled.
Top management from China Telecom has disclosed to the local media that a measure regarding China's telecom industry restructuring may be released on May, the World Telecommunication Day.
The measure, according to sources quoted in various local media, will probably be published on May, but there might still be some changes on the date as the personnel arrangement has not been fixed. The Chinese government is now quickly organizing a lead team for China Mobile and the arrangement of Chang Xiaobing, current president of China Unicom, is one of the focuses of the personnel arrangement.
Because of all this harried preparation, only the relevant measures and personnel arrangement will be published on May, while the real network separation and asset acquisition will probably be postponed until after the Olympic Games in August 2008.
Nokia announced the launch of its Nokia 6122c, exclusively available for China Mobile.
"The Nokia 6122c is another S60 device exclusively available for CMCC, demonstrating the continued collaboration between Nokia and CMCC" says Michael Hsu, vice president, China Mobile Account. "As a world leading mobile phone manufacturer, we highly value collaboration with CMCC. Together we will strive to forge long-term development of the domestic mobile telecom industry."
As an S60 multimedia device, the Nokia 6122c provides users rich entertainment features and powerful applications scalable ability. With China Mobile keys specifically dedicated to the Internet, customers have faster and easier access to all of China Mobile's Internet services and contents.
Based on S60 and Symbian OS, the Nokia 6122c enables the user to download additional applications and content on the phone and enjoy various digital experiences including entertainment services. It also allows the user to run several applications on the device while listening to his favorite music.
China Mobile has set up an internet cafe on Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world.
Located at an altitude of 5200 meters, the netcafe in Tibet, along with a business hall which was also established by China Mobile, is the highest in the world and it is mainly aimed at meeting the communications demand of China's Olympic torch relay team.
China Mobile's business hall on Everest provides such services as automatic seller machine in addition to the basic services like communications fee payment and card changes. The business hall and the netcafe are reported to have about 40-50 customers every day.
To ensure that staff at many of the work units on the Everest area can access the Internet smoothly, China Mobile has also expanded the bandwidth in the region. The company says that to make sure the limited network resources can be effectively used for the torch relay, it has conducted strict management on the lines and accounts of the Everest camp and given priority to such media as Xinhua News Agency and CCTV in meeting their reporting needs.
News Telephone China 
