August 2 -- China Telecom (0728.HK) was rumored to have reached an agreement with Apple Inc. to introduce the CDMA versions of iPhone 4 and iPhone 5 in China at end October, reports sohu.com, citing an unnamed source.

According to the statistics of China Mobile (0941.HK), the number of iPhone users which use its network exceeds six million.

Including the user numbers of China United Network Communications (China Unicom) (600050, 0762.HK), the total number of iPhone users in China totals 10 million.

According to Apple’s 2011 third quarter report, revenue from Greater China rose 6 times year-on-year to $3.8 billion yuan.

China Telecom is the largest operator of the CDMA network globally, with a total of 108 million CDMA users, including 21.54 million 3G users, according to the report.

Apple had started developing the CDMA version of the iPhone in 2008, and China Telecom had been in touch with Apple since the second quarter of 2010 regarding the introduction of the CDMA version of the iPhone in China, according to a source from China Telecom. 

There were media reports that Apple will launch the new version of the iPhone during the September 6-15 period, with the first batch of four million iPhones expected to be launched for sale in several markets, including China, at the same time.

The new iPhones to be launched in September will include the iPhone 5 and an upgraded version of the iPhone 4S, according to other media reports.

According to the unnamed source, China Telecom will introduce the iPhone 4 and iPhone 5 at end October at the earlierst.

An employee from China Telecom's IT department said there are no IT issues regarding the launch of the CDMA version of the iPhone 4.

Source:capitalvue