China Mobile yesterday confirmed it was in talks with Shanghai Pudong Development Bank over a potential investment in the lender，a step that could help the world's largest wireless operator expand its mobile payment services.

　　中國移動（China Mobile）昨日確認(rèn)，正與上海浦東發(fā)展銀行（Shanghai Pudong Development Bank）就一項(xiàng)潛在投資洽談。此舉可能幫助這家全球最大的移動運(yùn)營商拓展其手機(jī)支付服務(wù)。

　　The confirmation of talks comes after Pudong Development's shares were suspended last Friday as the lender said it was preparing to sell stakes to strategic investors. Guotai Junan， one of China's biggest brokerages，said in a research note that Pudong Development planned to sell a 20 per cent stake to China Mobile for about Rmb40bn （$5.9bn）。

　　此前，浦發(fā)銀行上周五表示，正籌劃向戰(zhàn)略投資者出售股份，并宣布股票停牌。中國最大證券公司之一國泰君安在一份研究報(bào)告中表示，浦發(fā)銀行計(jì)劃向中國移動出售20%股份，售價約400億元人民幣（合59億美元）。

　　Analysts said that expanding China Mobile's presence in mobile payments could be important at a time when competition in the telecoms sector is heating up. China Unicom，China Mobile's smaller rival，has recently started picking up third-generation subscribers at a faster pace as it operates a network using the mature 3GSM standard.

　　分析師表示，在電信業(yè)競爭日漸激烈之際，中國移動擴(kuò)大在手機(jī)支付領(lǐng)域的市場份額可能具有重要意義。中國移動規(guī)模較小一些的競爭對手中國聯(lián)通（China Unicom）最近開始爭取到更多第三代移動通信用戶。聯(lián)通的3G網(wǎng)絡(luò)采用成熟的3GSM標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。

　　China Mobile was forced by the government to roll out 3G services using the less stable TD-SCDMA standard. With some customers reluctant to sign up to the homegrown standard，China Mobile has been forced to strengthen other value-added services to prevent its average revenue per customer from eroding.

　　應(yīng)政府要求，中國移動采用穩(wěn)定性較差的TD-SCDMA標(biāo)準(zhǔn)推出了3G服務(wù)。一些用戶不愿與本土研制的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)簽約，迫使中國移動增強(qiáng)其它增值服務(wù)，以防其每用戶平均營收下降。

　　The pressure is only set to intensify as a government push for convergence between telecoms，television and internet services could introduce even more competition in mobile content.

　　中國政府大力推動電信、電視及互聯(lián)網(wǎng)服務(wù)之間的整合，可能導(dǎo)致移動內(nèi)容領(lǐng)域的競爭越來越激烈，中國移動面臨的壓力只會增強(qiáng)。

　　中國移動昨日表示，正就可能認(rèn)購上海浦發(fā)新股及與其展開戰(zhàn)略合作事宜展開初步協(xié)商。不過，該電信集團(tuán)表示，不能確定何時可達(dá)成認(rèn)購及戰(zhàn)略合作事項(xiàng)，并補(bǔ)充稱，此交易“未必實(shí)行”。

　　China Mobile said yesterday that it was holding preliminary discussions with Pudong Development in relation to the potential subscription of new shares and potential strategic co-operation. However，the telecoms group said it could not give an indication of the timing of the subscription and the strategic co- operation， adding that the transaction “may or may not proceed”。

　　記者無法聯(lián)系到浦發(fā)銀行，請其就此事置評。

　　Pudong Development was not available for comment.