China Mobile banks on 4G, iPhone boost: WSJ

(This story was published by The Wall Street Journal Online's Digits blog at http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/)

China Mobile is setting an ambitious smartphone sales target for the coming year--a clear signal it wants to boost its share of the local market for mobile data with the help of popular models including Apple Inc.'s iPhone.

China Mobile Chairman Xi Guohua said Wednesday the mobile giant aims to sell 190 million-220 million mobile terminals, including smartphones and data cards, next year, up from about 155 million this year. He also said 4G mobile terminals will account for half of next year's sales target.

The world's largest mobile operator by subscribers is seeking new avenues of growth as revenue from traditional voice and text messages flag, and this week it unveiled its new mobile brand at an event in Guangzhou. Apart from the iPhone, it is also offering fourth-generation mobile handsets from Sony Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co. China Mobile's local units have been taking preorders for the iPhone and other 4G handsets since early December, though there hasn't been an official announcement on when the phones would start shipping to consumers.

While China Mobile Chief Executive Li Yue remained mum on the iPhone deal on Wednesday morning, the company's Zhejiang unit put a new iPhone 5S reservation advertisement on the front page of its official website Wednesday afternoon. On the page was a picture of a gold iPhone 5S, along with the blurb: "The best iPhone 5S is here. China Mobile's 4G Apple handset is making a shock debut."

According to the reservation portal, China Mobile is taking preorders for the 4G iPhone 5S through the website, its 10086 hotline and some dedicated retail outlets in Zhejiang from Dec. 18 to Dec. 31. Buyers will need to subscribe to China Mobile's 4G data plan. China Mobile Zhejiang said it will notify the preorder customers once the iPhone shipment arrives.

The 10086 hotline operators in Zhejiang and Suzhou said the company is finalizing the pricing plan for iPhone 5S and it may announce more details later this month.

China Mobile's spokeswoman declined to comment on the timing of the iPhone launch.

China Mobile, which has more than 760 million subscribers, on Wednesday afternoon began operating commercial 4G services in Hangzhou, Ningbo and Wenzhou of Zhejiang province, and in Beijing and Suzhou, according to company officials. It plans to expand the services to more than 340 cities by the end of 2014.

Mr. Xi and other China Mobile executives also said the carrier will invest more in marketing next year, including an increase in handset subsidies and higher commissions to distribution partners, to promote the new 4G services.