Operator steals a lead in Shenzhen
1 January 2003
China Telecom, the country's principal fixed-line operator, has launched a successful mobile telephone service in the southern city of Shenzhen, despite not yet being granted a mobile licence by its owner, the Ministry of Information Industry.
The Financial Times reported that the CDMA service had attracted 70,000 subscribers in its initial months of operation. Although users cannot make calls outside the city, the service has proved popular because calls cost less than half the rates being charged by China Mobile and China Unicom, the two authorised mobile operators.
China Telecom has been keen to win a mobile licence for more than a year, and the newspaper said that the success of the Shenzhen service indicated that it was close to realising its ambition.