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China Mobile keeps eye on Asian expansion

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-05-16 15:45

The parent of China Mobile Ltd. , which agreed this year to buy Pakistan's Paktel Ltd. for US$284 million, will hunt for moreacquisitions across Asia in coming years to try to build a global presence.

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And executives kept mum on Wednesday on when the government might issue long-awaited 3G licences, amid market expectations that Beijing will unleash a flood of network spending late this year or in 2008.

Chairman Wang Jianzhou told reporters the world's largest cellular operator would put its experience developing new markets to good use, but the listed firm's state parent had not identified acquisition targets.

"It's not the proper time for telecom firms to make foreign acquisitions because the prices are too high," Wang said.

He added that the listed firm had the right to acquire the assets of the Pakistan carrier, now entirely owned by the parent and renamed CM PAK, but that there was no timetable for such a move.

In April, China Mobile said it planned to spend $400 million expanding its network in Pakistan.

Wang also said the parent company was committed to research and development on China's much-touted homegrown 3G technology, known as TD-SCDMA.

The state-run firm is setting up a trial network across eight cities, with a completion date set for October.

Shares in China Mobile were up 1 percent in afternoon trade on Wednesday, outpacing a 0.3 percent gain in the benchmark Hang Seng Index.