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The fixed-line telecom carrier China Telecom plans to raise US$3.2 billion to US$3.5 billion in an initial public offering (IPO) on the overseas stock markets, industry sources said Wednesday.
That amount would make the IPO the biggest in Asia and the third largest globally this year, according to an update from the sources, who declined to be named.
Zhou Deqiang will be named chairman and Chang Xiaobing will be named president of the listed company. The men are now president and vice-president of China Telecom respectively.
China Telecom, the dominant fixed-line telecom carrier in China's 21 southern provinces and municipalities, is planning to go public on the stock markets of Hong Kong and New York.
The company's businesses in Shanghai, Guangdong, Zhejiang and Jiangsu, the most wealthy coastal municipality and provinces, will be part of the listed entity.
The roadshow will start on October 8, and the shares will be listed on the bourse in late October, the sources said.
But the share price has not yet been decided, they said.
According to reports from Reuters, China Telecom filed an application for the IPO with US regulators on Tuesday. The company got approval from Hong Kong securities authorities last Thursday.
In the pre-roadshow promotion held for institutional investors this week, organizations were positive toward China Telecom's IPO, the sources said.
According to feedback from the pre-marketing activities, China Telecom is still attractive to overseas investors, even in the middle of a global economic downturn.
The telephone penetration rate in the four coastal provinces and Shanghai municipality is still low, at a little more than 20 per cent. That rate is over 60 per cent in Hong Kong and the United States, the sources said.
Given the fact that China has become the world's biggest fixed-line telecom market, investing in China Telecom is a tempting opportunity.
But the sources refuted reports that China Telecom will introduce some overseas strategic investors in the IPO.
Some industry insiders speculated that China Telecom is eying a mobile licence.
（ September 26, 2002）
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