China Telecom Corp, a Chinese fixed-line phone operator listed in Hong Kong, said it may sell shares in China if the company is granted a license to operate a high-speed mobile-phone service in the nation.

"The company will have new funding needs when it has new business opportunities, such as 3G and Internet television," Chairman Wang Xiaochu told reporters after the Beijing-based company's shareholders meeting in Hong Kong yesterday.

China Telecom, the country's biggest fixed-line operator, and rival China Netcom Group Corporation (Hong Kong) Ltd plan to expand in the faster-growing mobile-phone market by obtaining government permits to operate third-generation services, or 3G. China's cell-phone users are growing at seven times the pace of traditional fixed-line users, Bloomberg News said.