China Telecom

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Not to be confused with Chunghwa Telecom.

China Telecom Corp. Ltd. (SEHK: 728, NYSE: CHA) is the largest fixed service telecommunications provider in the People's Republic of China. The company provides fixed-line and Xiaolingtong telephone services to 216 million subscribers as of April 2008 ^[1], and broadband internet access to over 38 million subscribers, providing approximately 62% (46 Gb/s) of China's internet bandwidth.^[2]. On June 2 2008, China Telecom announced that it would purchase China Unicom's nationwide CDMA business and assets for 110 billion RMB, giving it 43 million mobile subscribers.

The company was formerly a state-owned monopoly, but its assets in the country's 10 northern provinces were transferred to China Netcom in 2002, leaving China Telecom with the 21 southern provinces. Although the two companies are free to compete across the whole country, Telecom still has an overwhelming market share in the south, while Netcom dominates the north.

China Telecom has been listed on the Hong Kong and New York stock exchanges since 2002, but the Chinese government still retains majority ownership.

1 Industry Consolidation
2 See also
3 External links
4 References

[edit] Industry Consolidation

On June 2, 2008, the company announced to acquire China Unicom's CDMA business and network for a total of 110 billion yuan in cash (USD $15.86 Billion in cash), a series of transactions aimed transform the company into a fully integrated telecommunications operator after its expected completion in the next six months to one year. ^[3]
Such shifts mark a new era for China's telecom industry in which analyst have further commented that these changes are aimed at promoting a more fair and competitive industry environment. ^[4]