Rumor: China Telecom to Sell CDMA Handsets at Cost
Sina Tech, 12/01/08
An industry source has revealed that China Telecom (NYSE: CHA; 0728.HK) may begin selling a portion of its recently procured CDMA handsets at or near cost, in addition to continuing to provide rebates for new subscribers joining its CDMA network.
Previously, China Unicom (NYSE: CHU; 0762.HK; 600050.SH) had also provided large rebates of phone credit when customers purchased CDMA handsets, and made large-volume handset procurements through its Unicom Huasheng subsidiary to drive the price of handsets down. However as Unicom Huasheng was run as a for-profit company, it typically added an acceptable markup on mid- to high-end handsets.
Keywords: 0728.HK 0762.HK 600050.SH CDMA CHA China Telecom China Unicom CHU Unicom Huasheng wireless mobile phone pricing operator-customized handset Tianyi Telecom Terminal