China Unicom seeking 120 bln yuan for CDMA business
China Unicom’s initial asking price for its CDMA network business is 120 bln yuan, the Oriental Morning Post reported, citing a company source.
The price is well above the 50-60 bln yuan initially offered by the likely buyer, China Telecom, the Shanghai newspaper said, citing another source close to the negotiations.
The second source told the newspaper that China Telecom would like to get the deal done at its “psychological maximum” of 80 bln yuan but final agreement is more likely at around 80-100 bln.
The CDMA business is to be disposed of as part of a wider telecommunications industry restructuring.
Yesterday, China Unicom announced it is in talks with fixed line network operators China Telecom and China Netcom about mergers and business disposals. The non-CDMA portion of China Unicom, mainly its GSM network, is expected to merge with China Netcom.
According to Hong Kong-listed China Unicom’s annual report, the CDMA business generated 27.73 bln yuan in revenue in 2007, up 1.6 pct, accounting for 29.3 pct of total revenue.
CDMA subscribers stood at 41.927 mln at the end of 2007, with average revenue per user down by 7.7 yuan to 58.1. (1 usd = 6.95 yuan)
Tags: CDMA, China-Netcom, China-Telecom, China-Unicom, GSM