CHINA Telecom Corp, the nation's largest fixed-line phone company, said it's in talks to sell a stake to a strategic investor to help it expand after acquiring mobile-phone assets.

"The company is interested in having a strong strategic partner of mutual benefits at an appropriate time in future and has been approached by a number of parties," Jacky Yung, a spokesman for China Telecom, said yesterday. Still, talks haven't reached a "substantive" level, he said.