China Telecom Group has set up a mobile department to meet the coming competition of 3G technology-driven mobile services, said the state media on Wednesday. Its provincial branches are also bracing themselves for the 3G market battle.

The newly established department in China Telecom will be specifically responsible for the 3G mobile services, a vast promising market of which the telecom giant is trying to secure a share early this year from its rival China Mobile. In addition to the new department's head office in the Beijing-based headquarters, China Telecom's provincial companies nationwide are also setting up their local units for the 3G mobile services.

Telecom analysts expect that China Telecom will be granted one of the 3G licenses by China's Ministry of Information Industry (MII), the government's telecom regulator, early this year for providing 3G mobile services across the country, and as a result, will have significant expectations put upon them for service delivery among their multi-million customer base. The recent report of MII indicates that China Telecom has added 690,000 new fixed-line users in November 2006, and China Mobile signed up 4.67 million new users in November, bringing its total users to 296 million.

In terms of mobile service experience and technology, China Telecom would likely be overwhelmed by China Mobile in attempting to satisfy its prospective mobile customers. Therefore it is crucial for the fixed line telecom giant to make full preparation for the looming competitive but lucrative 3G mobile service market.

With this prompt 3G maneuver in its corporate structural extension, China Telecom will be better equipped to cross and up-sell its customer base for extended service options and packages. 

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