China Telecom is the third-largest mobile carrier in China, with over 129 million subscribers, making the addition of the iPhone to their offerings an extremely significant move for Apple, adding to their increasingly large footprint in that market.
Apple released a statement to The Loop on the matter:
“iPhone 4S has been an incredible hit with customers around the world,” Apple spokesperson Natalie Harrison, told The Loop. “We’re thrilled to be launching iPhone 4S with China Telecom and can’t wait to get it into the hands of even more customers in China.”
The carrier will be the second to offer the iPhone in China, following China Unicom, who previously had exclusive rights to the iPhone in that country. Apple is making strides to improve support for the Chinese language in their products, such as including China-specific changes in their upcoming release of OS X Mountain Lion.