by winston » Fri Mar 06, 2009 9:46 am
Still looking for a chance to buy a Put on China Mobile..
150m users seen for 3G by BENJAMIN SCENT
China's third-generation mobile networks will be able to handle 150 million users by 2011, the head of the mainland telecoms regulator said yesterday.
The three mainland phone companies may each spend 100 billion yuan (HK$113.39 billion) building up their 3G networks, Bloomberg quoted Minister of Industry and Information Technology Li Yizhong as saying on the sidelines of legislative meetings in Beijing. He did not give any time frame.
Industry leader China Mobile (0941) has said it will spend 58.8 billion yuan this year to roll out 600,000 base stations that use the TD-SCDMA standard - the mainland's home-grown 3G technology. China Mobile's 3G network will cover 238 cities, or about 70 percent of the country's major cities, by December.
Nomura yesterday cut its target price for China Mobile to HK$85, from HK$92. Target for China Telecom (0728) was reduced to HK$3.60, from HK$4.70, and China Unicom (0762) to HK$9.50, from HK$16.20.
China Mobile will report the strongest 2008 results of the three operators, Nomura analyst Danny Chu said.
"China Mobile's strong balance sheet has a vital edge over the other two operators," said Chu, who has a "buy" call on all three stocks.
Rivals China Telecom and China Unicom will likely see their earnings fall in coming years as their Xiaolingtong, or "Little Smart," limited-range wireless services are phased out, Chu said.
It's all about "how much you made when you were right" & "how little you lost when you were wrong"