Ryan Barnes

China Mobile: Tea Leaves Give Mixed Reading

Thanks jegan & Dan...and kudos on your blog Dan, I read through some of your great posts to help me understand the landscape. I agree that CHL has gotten itself into a pickle, and will likely begin to lose customers as soon as CHU gets their 3G up in the first 10 cities. I'm hoping that the 4G upgrade will then happen within a year, or shortly enough to keep the customer losses to a minimum.

Long term I do think CHL's inherent costs advantages and outlays will keep them the best-positioned of the three operators. But MIIT is a real wildcard; I think the desire to keep citizens happy will ramp up the freedoms given to all three companies. I see AAPL doing two different deals; they are much too protective of their brand to let it get away from them in China. But they also won't spurn CHL; 400m customers is too many to ignore.

Regards, RB

China Mobile: Looks Like Value, Smells Like Growth

I appreciate the summary comments valueinvst (don't worry I won't call them 'basic'), although I don't understand why you own the stock at $70 if you're so dour on their prospects. Your simplistic comments don't address the "E"....or any numbers for that matter. the only dollar figure I see is the high cost basis of your stock.