China Mobile President: Mulling Minority Stakes in Foreign Cos
BOAO, China -(Dow Jones)- China Mobile Communications Corp. will consider taking minority stakes in telecom companies in other emerging markets to avoid paying a high price to buy assets that many others are eyeing, President Wang Jianzhou said Saturday.
Wang reiterated that China Mobile Communications, the state-owned parent of China Mobile, mainly seeks to expand in emerging markets, and added the mobile carrier will also consider taking controlling stakes abroad.
His remarks suggest a slight shift in China Mobile Communications' plans to expand abroad. In its only overseas acquisition so far, China Mobile Communications last year bought 100% of Pakistan telecommunications operator Paktel Ltd. for US$460 million and renamed it CMPak.
Since then, Wang has repeatedly said China Mobile Communications is keen on overseas mergers and acquisitions, but that valuations in emerging markets are high.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Boao Forum for Asia, Wang said there won't be a limit to the number of customers taking part in its trial of a locally developed advanced mobile-phone technology, Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access. He didn't elaborate.
The trial, in eight cities including Beijing, started April 1 and intends to sign up as many as 60,000 customers to use TD-SCDMA services.
Wang said Saturday China Mobile will use TD-SCDMA technology during the Olympics.
TD-SCDMA technology is intended as a rival to two other 3G technologies that are already used commercially in other countries: Wideband CDMA and CDMA2000.
-By Terence Poon, Dow Jones Newswires; 8610 6588 5848; terence.poon@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
Posted to the site on 12th April 2008
