Taipei, March 9, 2010 (CENS)--After joining China Telecom`s CDMA2000 Alliance as one of the alliance`s council members, Inventec Appliances Corp., a world-caliber manufacturer of mobile phones, is very likely to participate in establishing related standards and see more tender opportunities in the future, poised to cash in on the segment for CDMA phones in China, according to industry insiders.

Endeavoring to expand the Chinese market for CDMA-based mobile phones, China Telecom has included over 100 handset IC chip designers, handset manufacturers and brand owners in its CDMA2000 Alliance, in hopes of enhancing development of the CDMA phone industry. A couple of Taiwanese firms, like MediaTek Inc., VIA Telecom Inc. and Inventec Appliances, have already joined the alliance.

As one of China`s big three telecom companies (the other two are China Mobile and China Unicom), China Telecom has actively pushed use of CDMA-based 3G services in the country and already announced a plan to procure five million middle-end CDMA phones, with some 80 tendering for supplying the phones. The telecom company sold over 32 million CDMA phones last year, four times more than 2008.

Chang Ching-sung, chairman of Inventec Appliances, said that his firm, which owns a brand OKWAP, plans to dive up its share of the Chinese market for own-brand CDMA phones to 10% this year from 6% posted last year, and double its sales value of OKWAP-branded phones.

The firm shipped about two million CDMA phones to China alone in 2009, accounting for two-thirds of its total handset shipment to the country. Joining the CDMA2000 Alliance, the firm is confident of further exploring the segment in the future, according to industry insiders.

(by Steve Chuang)