China Telecom Parent to Spend $11.7 Billion on CDMA Network

HONG KONG -(Dow Jones)- China Telecommunications Corp. plans to invest CNY80 billion (US$11.7 billion) over the next three years in the CDMA network it is acquiring from China Unicom's parent, the company's listed unit, China Telecom Corp., said in a statement Monday.

China Telecom Corp. also said it plans to boost its CDMA subscriber base to 100 million by 2010 from about 43.1 million now.

The fixed-line operator is also targeting value-added services to account for 35% of total revenue by 2010.

Last month, it said its parent will acquire the CDMA network of China Unicom's parent for CNY66.2 billion in cash.

The acquisition is part of a government-mandated restructuring of China's telecommunications sector unveiled in May.

-By Lorraine Luk, Dow Jones Newswires; 852-2802-7002; lorraine.luk@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

Posted to the site on 28th July 2008