The Financial Times quoted people close to the proposal as saying that the operator would use the funds to acquire from its state-owned parent the 11 remaining regional telecom networks it doesn’t already own. The move would add a further 45 million users to its subscriber base. China Telecom is officially denying any placement proposals.
Last year, China Telecom paid its parent $5.6bn in cash for six provincial networks, upping its coverage to 10 provinces and subscriber numbers to 100 million.
The move follows an announcement from the second largest Chinese fixed-line telecoms operator China Netcom Corp Ltd, which in January said it was looking to raise between $1.5bn and $3bn in an IPO.
This article is based on material originally published by ComputerWire
