Virgin Group chief Richard Branson said yesterday he has earmarked US$300 million for a cellular phone joint venture on the Chinese mainland, the world's largest mobile market by users.

Branson also told reporters that the airlines under the Virgin umbrella will buy up to 100 planes worth US$6-US$7 billion over the next four or five years.

He also said there was "no way" he would sell his 25 per cent stake in discount Australian airline Virgin Blue to Patrick, which holds 46 per cent of the carrier.

Branson, whose mobile operations resell other carriers' service under the Virgin brand, aims to have a 50-50 venture with a Chinese partner in operation in 12 to 18 months.

Besides airlines and telecoms, the flamboyant Briton's business empire includes retailing, aerospace and music.

"The Chinese market is obviously the fastest-growing market in the world. Virgin will be foolish if it is not a player in the market," Branson told reporters.

Branson was in Hong Kong to promote Virgin Atlantic's new London to Sydney service through Hong Kong, which he said would do no better than break even in its first three years.

Branson said he was in talks with "several companies" about a mobile phone joint venture on the mainland, but declined to name his potential partners in a country with more than 300 million cellular subscribers.

China Mobile (Hong Kong) has about two-thirds of the market and China Unicom about one-third.

In addition, China has nearly 75 million users of a low-cost limited-roaming service called "Little Smart", which is provided by fixed-line operators China Telecom and China Netcom and their respective parent firms.

Beijing is expected to reveal sometime next year how many licences it will issue for third-generation cellular service, with market watchers expecting three or four different operators.

"We would be certainly interested in 3G," Branson said.

China Daily