Recruiting in China

CHINA Mobile has paid US$284 million for a majority stake in Paktel Ltd, Pakistan's fifth largest mobile operator, the company said yesterday.

The deal has been sealed in Istanbul, Sina.com said today.

The Beijing-based China Mobile now has an 88.86 percent stake in Paktel, a unit of Luxembourg-based Millicom International Cellular SA, which operates networks in developing countries.

Liu Aili, vice president of China Mobile, has been elected as the board chairman of the new venture in Pakistan, said the company.

The venture will be the world's biggest mobile phone carrier's first international deal and is seen as a symbolic start for its global expansion strategy, insiders said.

Paktel, which has 1.5 million users, is valued at US$460 million, according to a statement from Millicom.

Hong Kong-listed China Mobile earned 96.8 billion yuan (US$12.1 billion) last year, up 23 percent from 2005. The company's total user base hit 318 million, a 20 percent increase from the previous year, the company said in a statement last month.

China Mobile's development strategy is to invest overseas, especially in emerging markets, company Chairman Wang Jianzhou said in September.

China Mobile wants to export the marketing tactics and technology it developed in the rural areas of China, the world's largest market by users, to emerging countries.