CHINA Mobile Communications Corp, parent of the world's largest wireless operator by market value, plans to buy companies in Africa and Southeast Asia. The move has been prompted by accelerating growth in those regions, Bloomberg News reported.

"We are interested in neighboring countries in Southeast Asia and some other emerging markets like those in Africa," Wang Jianzhou, president of the Beijing-based company, said in an interview in Hainan, southern China on Sunday. He declined to identify companies or say if an acquisition was likely this year.

China Mobile Communications is looking to Africa, where one in 10 people own mobile phones, and other overseas markets for growth as most new domestic users are farmers, who typically spend less than people living in cities.

Companies such as Hong Kong's Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd are also expanding in emerging markets, increasing competition for assets.

"Growth rates in Southeast Asia and Africa are going to be faster than those in China, which is the main attraction," Allan Ng, an analyst at Bank of China International in Hong Kong, said yesterday. "The value of these markets remains to be seen, but companies are interested now because of their potential."

Ng has an "underperform" rating on shares of the company's Hong Kong-based China Mobile Ltd unit.

China Mobile had its highest monthly gain in users last month of 5.12 million for a total of 316.1 million. Subscriber numbers rose by 14.9 million in the first quarter, or an average of five million a month, exceeding Singapore's population.

China Mobile Communications is also heeding a government call to venture abroad as the domestic market is open wider to foreign firms as part of World Trade Organization commitments.

Lou Qinjian, deputy minister at the Ministry of Information Industry, said in a December 19 speech that Chinese technology companies should increase investments in African and Southeast Asian nations that the country is deepening ties with.

Source:佚名