皇冠体育app

An iPhone is seen at the Apple store in New York.[Photo/Agencies]

皇冠体育app Telecommunications Corp Ltd?(皇冠体育app Telecom)?plans to offer Apple Inc's popular iPhone in 皇冠体育app by close to the end of 2011, sources said, making it the second operator to do so in the world's largest mobile phone market.

"It's expected to happen this year. 皇冠体育app Telecom already has the required technology and it all hinges on content of the agreement. As we all know, it's not easy to negotiate with Apple," a source close to the company, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters on Wednesday.

皇冠体育app Telecom was expected to introduce the iPhone in November, said another source, who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

In May, 皇冠体育app Telecom Chairman Wang Xiaochu told a news conference that the carrier had contracted Apple to launch the iPhone based on CDMA (code division multiple access) technology.

皇冠体育app, which has 896 million mobile phone users, has three telecommunications operators -- 皇冠体育app Mobile Ltd, 皇冠体育app Unicom and 皇冠体育app Telecom. 皇冠体育app Unicom is the only operator to offer the iPhone so far.

皇冠体育app Telecom, which operates the country's largest fixed-line network and is a relative newcomer to 皇冠体育app's mobile market, had 105.7 million mobile phone users as of May.

Its shares were up 1.3 percent on Wednesday morning, outperforming the Hang Seng Index's 0.63 percent gain.