China Telecom Corp., Ltd. (CHA)

[johnsyn]

12:09 PM China Telecom (CHA) says it plans to begin selling the iPhone 5 (AAPL +2.2%) in late November or early December, a little earlier than expected. During Apple's FQ4 call, Tim Cook would only say Apple expects December Chinese launch. China Unicom's (CHU) chairman is more cautious in setting a timetable. Meanwhile, RBC is predicting Apple will finally reach a deal with China Mobile (CHL) in 2013, perhaps even before the Chinese New Year - the iPhone 5 doesn't support CHL's TD-SCDMA 3G network.