HONG KONG – China Telecom Hong Kong (CTHK) announced it plans to acquire three mobile networks in the Fujian, Henan and Hainan provinces of China for US$6.4 billion. The acquisition includes 3.4 million combined subscribers and could make CTHK one of the largest cellular phone operators in the world.
The company is acquiring the networks from its parent company, China Telecom. CTHK is about 76-percent indirectly held by China’s Ministry of Information INdustry (MII).
To finance the purchase, CTHK raised US$2.6 billion selling new stocks and bonds. The company raised US$2 billion on the sale of 644.805 million new shares. CTHK also sold US$600 million of five-year global notes.
The three mobile carriers, Fujian Mobile Communication, Henan Mobile Communication, operate both GSM and TACS cellular networks in each province.
