The nation's largest wireless carrier China Mobile said on Friday it planned to acquire its sister company's fixed-line telecom business for 31.88 billion yuan ($4.99 billion) to help boost its presence in that business in China.

CM TieTong, a wholly owned subsidiary of China Mobile, said it has agreed to acquire the fixed-line telecommunications business from TieTong, which has over 10 million fixed broadband and fixed-line customers across China, according to a China Mobile filing to the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd on Friday.

The payment will be funded by China Mobile's internal resources, it said.

China Mobile had said earlier this year it planned to acquire TieTong's fixed-line telecommunications sector, which would give China Mobile access to its extensive nationwide backbone network, metro fiber and land assets.

The predecessor of TieTong is Railway Communications and Information Limited Liability Co, a large State-owned basic telecommunications operator founded in December 2000. In 2008, TieTong merged into China Mobile Communications Corp (CMCC) and became a wholly owned subsidiary of CMCC, which operates independently in 31 provinces, autonomous regions and directly administered municipalities on the Chinese mainland.

Reuters - Global Times