Sources in China Telecom told NexCom that the operator plans to purchase over 5 million 3G phones in the next few years. The price of these phones would be between CNY 700 and CNY 1900.
This is another big move after China Telecom having completed the purchase of 3G phones priced at about CNY 1000 last year and imported the BlackBerry from RIM a short time ago.
According to China Telecom's requirements, the bidding 3G phones must be equipped with some special feathers, including the hardware, software and applications that must match to China Telecom’s CDMA2000 3G standard. For example, the phones must support Tianyi, China Telecom’s 3G brand, the special services including Tianyi Live,iMusic,Tianyi Viedo,189 mailbox among other such things..
It is believed that China Telecom hopes to further increase more 3G phone users through this large-scale purchase.(Paul)
