China Telecom plans to buy China Unicom Ltd.'s CDMA network to gain access to a thriving wireless segment of the world's largest telecoms market, the Reuters reported, citing several sources. China Telecom hoped to pick up Unicom's CDMA network to expand its business, quoted the Hong Kong Economic Journal as saying. Speculation has surfaced sporadically over the past year that China's top telecoms operators, which also include China Mobile Ltd. and China Netcom  are on the verge of a major asset reshuffle or acquiring stakes in each other as part of a wider government restructuring agenda. China aimed to ease competition and lower the cost of building third-generation (3G) mobile networks. Among the talk was speculation that Beijing planned to split Unicom, the smaller of the country's two cellular operators, and merge its CDMA network with Netcom, while its larger GSM network would go to China Telecom, state media have reported.