With over 105 million subscribers, China Telecom is the third largest carrier in China. Despite reports that it would begin carrying the iPhone sometime in 2011, it now appears that China Telecom subscribers may have to wait until mid-2012 to get their hands on Apple’s smartphone.
As it stands now, the iPhone in China is officially supported by China Unicom, the country’s second largest carrier. Of course, the carrier on everyone’s radar is China Mobile which boasts over 600 million subscribers, making it the largest carrier in the world.
UBS AG analyst Wang Jinjin wrote in a note to clients last week that the iPhone will land on China Telecom by February or March 2012 at the absolute earliest, with a more likely bet being mid-2012.
It remains unclear what the holdup is, but we reported back in September that China Telecom was planning a massive $234 million ad campaign for Apple’s next-gen iPhone. It looks like they’ll have to put those plans on hold, for now.
via Apple Insider
Tue, Nov 1, 2011
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