China Unicom<600050><762><CHU>, currently the second largest wireless telecom operator in the country, will transfer 30,000 base stations to fixed-line telephone operator China Telecom<728><CHA>, which will acquire its CDMA business on the back of China's restructuring of its telecom industry, sources close to the deal said on Tuesday.

In addition, China Unicom will sell 10,000 base stations to China Telecom at a transaction price of about RMB 4.5 billion, said sources citing Zhao Yilei, a representative of China Unicom.

China Unicom is being viewed as the biggest winner in the industry’s regrouping as it can unload its less-profitable CDMA business and take over China Netcom Group Corp<906><CN>, the second largest fixed-line phone operator.

China Telecom will set up four internal organs to run the CDMA business: individual customers, wireless network optimization center, department of mobile construction, and a terminal operation company.

It will also build a development platform for CDMA terminals on the basis of China Unicom's Vsens, preparatory work on which has started, according to China Knowledge's earlier reports.

Source:China Knowledge