CHINA Telecom is expected to purchase more than 65 million phones at its biggest annual fair which opened in Guangzhou yesterday, up 30 percent from a year earlier.

China Telecom officials told Shanghai Daily that big screen, 4G and powerful entertainment are the new buzzwords for CDMA phones, in contrast to the entry-level phones with basic functions at previous fairs.

Top handset makers ZTE, Samsung and HTC and mobile Internet giants like Baidu are attending the two-day 2013 Tianyi (E-surfing) Handset Fair and Mobile Internet Forum, China Telecom's biggest annual group purchase fair, in south China.

"Apple and Samsung can't meet the surging demand of China Telecom's mid- and high-level users," said Zhao Guang, ZTE vice president. "It therefore provides opportunities for ZTE to transform its business to more high-end phones."