China Telecommunications Corporation (Telecom Group) said on Saturday it would invest 80 billion yuan (US$11.69 billion) to upgrade its newly acquired CDMA network.

Starting October 1, Telecom Group takes over the network, which was transferred from China United Communications Corporation (Unicom Group), parent company of the wireless service provider China Unicom.

The transfer is expected to be finished in three months.

According to Telecom Group, broadening the wireless CDMA network coverage would be its top priority in the next quarter.

The company said the first phase of work includes building a batch of new CDMA base stations in cities, improving coverage in counties and townships, and beefing up indoor coverage by FMC (Fixed Mobile Convergence) services.

Telecom group also plans to increase cell phones wireless Internet speed over the next three years.

The country's telecom reshuffling forms three market contenders, in which China Mobile, China Netcome (merger with China Unicom), and China Telecom would compete against each other, each with fixed and wireless services.

(Xinhua News Agency September 27, 2008)