According to a Deutsche Bank analyst, the expiration of the contract between one of China Telecom competetors and Apple iPhone may prove to be profitable for China Telecom, the smallest of China’s three wireless companies. China Telecom has reportedly negotiated with Apple Inc. to offer the iPhone early next year which may make China Telecom the second Chinese operator to present Apple’s popular iPhone.
China’s second largest Telecom Company, China Unicorn to date solely has the privilege of selling iPhones in China, according to a report issued by Deutsche Bank. This development would pave a way for China Telecom who function a 3G network based on a standard called CDMA 2000 which is identical to the standard of iPhone that Apple prepares to launch.
Deutsche Bank further reported that although China Telecom chose not to comment on the Company selling a CDMA iPhone, in reality they have held discussions with the chipset supplier Qualcomm and Apple to make sure that the deal takes place. China Telecom did not have an immediate representative to comment on the developments.
China Telecom hasn’t been doing so well in the recent past; its shares have been down by 0.47 percent in mid-morning trade in Hong Kong, lagging a 0.5 percent gain for the broader market.
China Unicom started selling iPhone 4 in China late last month, and said that pre-orders for the popular phone go beyond 200,000 units in the first two days it was made accessible to the customers.
China Mobile, China’s largest Telecom Company has reported in the past to have held talks with Apple to sell the iPhone, and also been suggesting the US Company on developing an iPhone that operates on TD-SCDMA, the home-produced standard it is using in its 3G network.