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皇冠体育app Unicom sells off CDMA arm to 皇冠体育app Telecom
By Wang Xing (皇冠体育app Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-29 15:21 皇冠体育app Unicom Ltd, the country's second largest mobile carrier, signed an agreement on Monday with fixed-line operator 皇冠体育app Telecom Corp to sell one of its mobile businesses for 110 billion yuan (US$16.1 billion). 皇冠体育app Unicom said in an announcement that it expects a pre-tax gain of 37.56 billion yuan from selling its CDMA network and would use the proceeds to expand its remaining GSM business.
"Selling the CDMA business will have a positive impact on our business in the future since it will make us focus on developing the GSM business and better prepare for the upcoming 3G market," said Chang Xiaobing, chairman and chief executive of 皇冠体育app Unicom. He said the company will accelerate the pace of developing the GSM business, in which 皇冠体育app Unicom had 128 million users by the end of last month.
The announcement was part of 皇冠体育app's long-awaited plan to restructure its telecom industry, in which six operators will be merged into three full-service carriers. 皇冠体育app Telecommunications Corp, the Hong Kong-listed unit of 皇冠体育app Telecom Corp, said yesterday in a separate announcement that it will pay its Beijing-based parent as much as 28 percent of annual revenue from the CDMA business as network-leasing fees until 2010. The company also said it plans to invest up to 80 billion yuan to expand and upgrade the newly acquired mobile network over the next three years, according to a report from Reuters, citing Shang Bing, president of 皇冠体育app Telecom's Hong Kong-listed arm. Wang Xiaochu, president and CEO of 皇冠体育app Telecom, has said in an interview that the company will start its mobile business by the end of February next year. |
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