China Telecom: Size of CDMA Subscriber Base Over-stated
Sina Tech, 6/06/08
A China Telecom (NYSE: CHA; 0728.HK) employee working on the purchase of China Unicom's (NYSE: CHU; 0762.HK; 600050.SH) CDMA network has put the number of actual CDMA users at 37 mln.
According to the source, China Unicom's CMDA users include at least six or seven hundred thousand Unicom employees and their relatives, along with two or three hundred thousand China Netcom employees and relatives. Also, several hundred thousand employees of firms that work with China Unicom have been forced to use CMDA phones. These users will switch to China Unicom's GSM network once the CDMA network is sold. Also, all operators have numbers which are in circulation but not used - these numbers are likely to be canceled after the transfer if payments or credit top-ups are not made.
Editor's Note: According to China Unicom, by the end of March 2008, the total number of CDMA subscribers had reached 42.8 mln.
Keywords: mobile subscribers restructuring 0728.HK 0762.HK 600050.SH CDMA CHA China Netcom China Telecom China Unicom CHU GSM telecom users wireless CN 0906.HK