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Wan LixinOpinion deputy editor of Shanghai Daily
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China Telecom eyes Blackberry
By Doug Young |
June 27, 2009, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
CHINA Telecom, one of the country's top three mobile carriers, said yesterday it has approached Research in Motion about possibly offering its popular BlackBerry mobile e-mail service in China.
"The two companies have just started preliminary contacts," China Telecom's spokesman said, without providing more details.
A RIM spokeswoman had no comment on the situation.
China Mobile, the country's dominant mobile carrier with more than two-thirds of the market, has offered BlackBerry in China since 2006, but has not strongly promoted the service.
The third major mobile carrier, China Unicom, has also said in the past that it was in talks with RIM about offering a BlackBerry service. But a spokeswoman had no update on whether those talks were still ongoing.
"We view a potential tie-up of China Telecom and BlackBerry as a positive but not a game changer," Goldman Sachs analyst Helen Zhu wrote in a research note.
She noted that China Mobile already offers the BlackBerry service in China, and that the product has limited appeal to a broader mass audience.
China's three main telcos have been seeking to beef up their offerings and differentiate themselves following a long-awaited restructuring of the industry and the government's issuance of 3G, or third generation, mobile licenses over the last year.
In addition to the BlackBerry talks, frequent media reports have said China Unicom was talking with Apple at various times to bring the United States company's popular iPhone to China.
"The two companies have just started preliminary contacts," China Telecom's spokesman said, without providing more details.
A RIM spokeswoman had no comment on the situation.
China Mobile, the country's dominant mobile carrier with more than two-thirds of the market, has offered BlackBerry in China since 2006, but has not strongly promoted the service.
The third major mobile carrier, China Unicom, has also said in the past that it was in talks with RIM about offering a BlackBerry service. But a spokeswoman had no update on whether those talks were still ongoing.
"We view a potential tie-up of China Telecom and BlackBerry as a positive but not a game changer," Goldman Sachs analyst Helen Zhu wrote in a research note.
She noted that China Mobile already offers the BlackBerry service in China, and that the product has limited appeal to a broader mass audience.
China's three main telcos have been seeking to beef up their offerings and differentiate themselves following a long-awaited restructuring of the industry and the government's issuance of 3G, or third generation, mobile licenses over the last year.
In addition to the BlackBerry talks, frequent media reports have said China Unicom was talking with Apple at various times to bring the United States company's popular iPhone to China.
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