As if the constant speculation and Hutchison’s constant rebuttals over the sale of its UK and/or Italian 3G operations was not enough, someone has now released a fake SEC filing into the mix.

According to the English language Hong Kong Standard over the weekend, a document has surfaced that purports to have originated from China Telecom regarding the company’s acquisition of 15 per cent of 3 Italia from Hutchison Whampoa for the princely sum of $1.2bn.

China Telecom has reportedly denounced the filing as a fake and has denied any such deal, as has Hutchison. No such filing has appeared on the SEC website but nor has any announcement appeared on China Telecom’s site. Apparently the fake document was circulated among the investment banker community late last week.

As the rumour mill has gone into overdrive in the past couple of weeks, Hutchison has spent much of its time denying the various reports that it is set to bail out of its flagship 3G operations. When telcoms.com spoke to a s UK spokesman last week, he brushed off much of the media speculation. The company did however confirm that a number of management jobs were on the line but that it would be increasing its head count in the retail sector.