China Mobile Ltd. (CHL) Chairman and Chief Executive Wang Jianzhou said Thursday the company is confident its third-generation wireless subscribers will reach around 3 million by the end of the year.

The world's biggest wireless operator by subscribers also remains interested in offering Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) iPhones in China and talks are continuing with the U.S. company, the executive said at a news conference.

China Mobile has signed a deal with Taiwan's HTC Corp. (2498.TW) to develop handsets based on China's homegrown TD-SCDMA technology, Wang said.

China Mobile began to offer TD-SCDMA - or Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access - commercially in January.

It also hopes to work with Taiwan's Mediatek Inc. (2454.TW) to develop chips used in mobile phones, Wang said.

The executive confirmed he will be traveling to Taiwan to meet with Taiwanese technology companies on Friday.

-By Lorraine Luk, Dow Jones Newswires; 852-2802-7002; lorraine.luk@dowjones.com