Though it has not reached a final agreement with China Unicom (CHU) on the price of acquiring the latter's CDMA network, China Telecom (CHA) has already begun to make arrangements for the operation of the network.

According to Enet.com.cn, China Telecom has signed a memorandum of understanding with Qualcomm and the two sides may cooperate on CDMA. The report says that the MOU signed between the parties was expected to take effect after the Chinese government's announcement of the telecom restructuring. However, it has been postponed to become effective by the end of May due to various reasons.

On May 24, the Chinese government issued an announcement, encouraging China Telecom to acquire China Unicom's CDMA network as part of the country's telecom reform. It is estimated that China Telecom's asset value will reach CNY500 billion after the transaction.

Besides Qualcomm, an official from SK Telecom, a shareholder of China Unicom, was also quoted by local media that they hoped to expand their cooperation with other Chinese telecom operators, including China Telecom.