Wang Xiaochu, president and CEO of China Telecom, has said in an interview that the company will start its mobile business by the end of February next year.

He said the company hopes to increase the subscriber base of CDMA from the current 43.17 million to 100 million in the next three years, aiming to take up 15 percent of the country's wireless market.

The government announced its plan to overhaul the telecom industry in May, in the hope of creating a more competitive telecom industry. The government later promised to issue licenses for 3G (third generation) mobile telephony as soon as the restructuring was completed.

According to government figures, China has the world's most cell phone users, with the number of subscribers surpassing 600 million by the end of last month.

But the country's telecom market has long suffered from a lack of competition under the de facto monopoly of China Mobile, the country's largest cell phone operator that has been raking in huge revenue in recent years and taking business away from fixed-line carriers China Telecom and China Netcom as users go mobile.

China Mobile's only rival, China Unicom, has not been a serious challenger as it struggled to operate two competing networks.

Nearly a third of China Unicom's employees will also be transferred to China Telecom as part of the deal, according to the company.

(China Daily July 29, 2008)