China Telecom is in talks to sell a stake to a strategic investor to help it expand after buying mobile-phone assets, Bloomberg reported. A company spokesperson said the company is interested in a "strong strategic partner" in the future and that it has been approached by several parties. However, talks have not reached a "substantive" level, the spokesperson said. The Oriental Morning Post reported that Qualcomm, SingTel and SK Telecom had approached China Telecom, citing anonymous sources. However, SingTel and Qualcomm would not comment on the report, while SK Telecom denied it. China Telecom had bought part of China United Telecommunications Corp’s wireless business for US$15.9 billion as part of an industry-wide restructuring earlier this month.
See our April issue for an in-depth look at the telecom restructuring.