The state-owned parent of China Telecom, the country’s largest fixed-line operator, plans to spend Rmb80bn ($11.7bn) over the next three years to upgrade a newly acquired wireless network as it seeks to compete better against China Mobile, the market leader.

China Telecom also said it would more than double the number of mobile users from 43.2m in June to 100m by 2010 to obtain 15 per cent of the market, as it benefits from a trend of convergence between fixed-line, mobile and broadband services.