IPhone 5 hits stores on Friday (2)

China Telecom was the first Chinese carrier to announce it would introduce the iPhone 5 handset to the mainland. It started allowing customers to pre-order the iPhone 5 on Dec 2, a day before China Unicom.

Even so, analysts said China Unicom holds several advantages in the race to sell iPhones.

"Compared with China Telecom, China Unicom has a longer relationship with Apple, as well as a well-developed distribution channel and a long-standing management group," said Huang Meng, telecom analyst with Beijing-based Analysys International.

Huang added that China Unicom is running a third-generation network that uses wideband code division multiple access, or WCDMA, technology, a network telecommunications standard.

"The WCDMA technology is a time-tested, strongly supported and popular 3G technology globally," Huang said.

China Unicom spokesman Wen Baoqiu said that the company expects the iPhone 5 to sell better than the iPhone 4S.

"Market reactions are making us more confident that the iPhone 5 will do better," Wen said.

By Tuesday morning, more than 300,000 pre-orders for the iPhone 5 had been made online, Wen said. China Unicom allowed customers to pre-purchase iPhone 5s early on Tuesday, and the number of those transactions reached 30,000 within an hour, Wen said.

China Telecom did not disclose its figures for pre-orders or pre-purchases.

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