CARROLLTON, Texas-Wireless phone distribution company CellStar Corp. announced it hired Zhang Yue, a former China Mobile Communications executive, as its senior vice president of Asia-Pacific operations. The move is notable as CellStar recently canceled its initial public offering in China and exited its Singapore and Filipino operations.
CellStar executives said the decision to hire Zhang stems from the company’s new business direction in China. The company now plans to work more closely with Chinese carriers to distribute phones, rather than through a loose alliance of local distributors.
“Carriers are playing an increasingly important role in China’s handset market,” said A.S. Horng, chief executive officer and chairman of CellStar’s Asia Pacific operations. “Therefore, we need to increase our focus on our carrier relationships in order to thrive in this market. Mr. Zhang’s arrival will be a big push for us as we strive to increase our revenues from handset sales and services to carriers. Our local distributor customers are all eager to leverage Mr. Zhang’s relationships and influence in the industry to increase their cooperation with the carriers. We have high confidence in Mr. Zhang and expect that he will be a key player in the success of our China operation in the future.”<
