The state parent of China Telecom plans to invest up to 80 billion yuan ($11.7 billion) to expand and upgrade a newly acquired mobile network over the next three years, the listed firm's president, Shang Bing, told Reuters on Monday.

China Telecom's parent agreed in June to pay 66.2 billion yuan for the Unicom group's CDMA web, a long-underperforming network once regarded as a cheaper alternative to China Mobile's Global System for Mobile Communications.

The Hong Kong-listed firm also agreed to fork over 43.8 billion yuan for Unicom's CDMA customers and business, as part of a government-led shake-up of the world's largest telecoms industry.

Source:Reuters