China Telecom Spending Hundreds of Millions on iPhone 5 Push

[Michael Essany]

China Telecom is pulling out all the stops ahead of the Chinese mobile operator's forthcoming introduction of the iPhone 5.

As MMi has reported throughout the summer, China Telecom is said to possess a childlike excitement for the iPhone's arrival on their network, a development that will add better than 100 million more possible iPhone customers within the world's largest mobile market. And while Apple's bottom line stands to benefit greatly from this reality, so does China Telecom's.

China Telecom had in the first half of 2011 surpassed Verizon Wireless become the world's largest CDMA operator, with a total of 108 million subscribers. China Telecom currently has between 13 million and 15 million high-end users, with potential to generate revenue of $8-$9 billion.

According to a report Wednesday from CapitalVue - China's "financial intelligence nexus" - China Telecom has begun training staff on the iPhone and preparing a massive iPhone marketing push the likes of which the global mobile community has never seen. China Telecom is reportedly directing some 1.5 billion yuan (which amounts to roughly $234 million) toward the marketing push for the 5th generation iPhone. This particular marketing endeavor has been dubbed the "Dragon Plan," according to CapitalVue.

The insider added that China Telecom expects to launch pre-sales of the iPhone 5 this month, and will start official sales in October.

One industry analyst speaking with the Chinese publication estimates that China Telecom may sell a total of 1.06 million iPhones before the end of 2011, with millions of additional sales consistently pouring in throughout 2012.

Source: CapitalVue

[JordanV]

China has three telephone companies. China Unicom ,China mobile and china telecom.China Telecom is the worst of all!!!! Very bad signal, Very bad Internet Service . Still can't believe that apple gave them to sell the iphone 5

[<(O)> Device]

Can't wait for October to get here

[zplit]

For the iPhone 4S lol or 5

[confucious]

China has three telephone companies. China Unicom ,China mobile and china telecom.China Telecom is the worst of all!!!! Very bad signal, Very bad Internet Service . Still can't believe that apple gave them to sell the iphone 5

Three? I thought they had four, two CDMA and two GSM? Just because it's not the best for you does not mean it's not the best for most - it's the same everywhere.

They start off with one exclusive provider but then the exclusive deal ends and they release to others. It doesn't suit everyone but it does seem to be very successful!

[Lloyd1941M]

China Telecom is the worst of all!!!!

[fine12]

China telecom is more powerful than China mobile!!!!!