China Telecom moves to attract 3G users

China Telecom Corp Ltd, the nation's smallest mobile operator with a user base of 150 million, plans to launch pre-paid contract products for retail distribution channels on Sept 26, in the hope of competing for more 3G users.

China Telecom, which is also the world's largest CDMA network operator, announced on Tuesday that the company aimed to draw more young and business people, by issuing three different pre-paid service products.

"The new products will offer a simple purchase process and save people time to buy China Telecom's 3G services," said Sun Kangmin, deputy general manager of China Telecom. Customers do not need to visit China Telecom outlets for details on the new service contracts. They can find information online or in retail stores, he added.

Chinese consumer electronics chain stores and e-commerce websites such as Suning, Gome and 360buy.com, pre-ordered 12 million service cards for the new products from China Telecom on Tuesday.

China Telecom had 33 percent of China's 3G market as of August, with 56.4 million 3G users in the first eight months. The figure lagged behind China Mobile and China Telecom, which had 72.1 million and 63.7 million 3G users in the same period, respectively.