China Mobile – the world’s largest operator by subscribers – remains upbeat on its growth potential and is searching for acquisition opportunities, reports Reuters. The news agency cites the operator’s chairman, Wang Jianzhou, as stating at the World Economic Forum in Davos today that China Mobile gained several million new subscribers this month alone. “Although [we are in a] recession, I can tell you even in this year we still have growth,” he commented. Chairman Wang said China Mobile was still cautious about acquisitions but noted that telecom assets are now cheaper. “We are looking for new opportunities for new acquisitions,” he said. In 2007 the company made its first and only overseas acquisition to date, buying 100 percent of Pakistan operator Paktel (now known as ‘Zong’) for US$460 million.

Separately, Reuters notes that Chairman Wang named domestic vendors Datang, Huawei and ZTE as likely majority winners of the operator’s nationwide 3G TD-SCDMA network order, whilst western suppliers Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks will also receive a smaller share of the deal. Earlier this month it was reported that China Mobile plans to invest CNY58.8 billion (US$8.6 billion) in 2009 on TD-SCDMA technology, covering all cities in China by 2011.