COSTA MESA, USA: The CDMA Development Group (CDG) congratulated China Telecom on its acquisition of 3G licenses for CDMA2000 mobile broadband services. China Telecom is now able to offer CDMA2000-based EV-DO mobile broadband data services in addition to its current 1X voice and data services.

China Telecom has stated that it plans to launch 3G CDMA mobile broadband services in 324 cities nationwide in the first half of 2009 and to upgrade its broadband network to deliver advanced EV-DO Revision A (Rev. A) mobile broadband data services by 2010.

"The CDG congratulates China Telecom on its acquisition of 3G licenses, a vital first step towards providing nationwide CDMA2000 mobile broadband Internet service under its 'Surfing' brand," said Perry LaForge, Executive Director of the CDG. "There are over a billion people in China without access to mobile broadband services, and we look forward to helping China Telecom meet its aggressive market penetration goals with affordable world-class telephony and broadband data services."

There are currently more than 28 million CDMA2000 subscribers in China. To attain its stated goals of gaining a 15 percent share of China's mobile market and achieving profitability in three years, China Telecom has announced it plans to increase its CDMA2000 customer base to over 100 million within the next three years and will spend more than $11.7B USD on CDMA network expansion and optimization while procuring 55 million CDMA2000 handsets in 2009 alone to support this rapid growth.

"China Telecom looks forward to bringing the EV-DO mobile broadband experience to both new and existing customers," said Yang Jie, Vice President of China Telecom. "Being China's largest wireline operator and the only CDMA carrier in the country places China Telecom in a unique position to grow our wireless segment at a tremendous pace, supported by a broad selection of affordable EV-DO devices and services."

China's mobile Internet user base has only recently increased beyond the 50 million user mark. As 90 percent of all Internet users in China are also mobile users, there is enormous growth potential for EV-DO services in the mobile Internet market. This bodes well for China Telecom since its 3G network will be optimized for economical, high-speed broadband performance, and the operator will be able to offer mobile broadband data services to China's large and underserved population at attractive prices.