Thought this might be of interest:
Dow Jones Newswires -- February 10, 1999
Dow Jones Newswires
Review: China's Open Telecom Door Still Closed To Foreigners
By CHARLES BICKERS
Dow Jones Newswires
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HONG KONG (Dow Jones)--Less than a year after its creation, the Ministry for the Information Industry in China is laying out a road map for restructuring and opening up the country's tightly controlled telecoms industry. But Feb. 4, the ministry's chief, Wu Jichuan, made it clear that the government will not brook challenges from Internet service providers to existing licensed telecoms players.
Moreover, the ministry, in outlining the changes, gave no indication that it intended to drop the ban on foreign investment in telecom services - an industry worth about $30 billion last year. The upshot of the MII's message: This market will open, but foreigners need not apply, reports the Far Eastern Economic Review in its latest edition published Thursday.
Wu said the plan, submitted by the MII to the State Council, recommended splitting state-owned China Telecom, which has a monopoly on fixed-line voice and data services and all major network provision, into three companies. One would control fixed-line networks and satellite systems, another mobile services, and the third paging systems.
According to industry executives in China, each company would not only develop its area of speciality, but also would be allowed to compete in the other sectors. Only when a stable competitive environment among Chinese firms has been established will foreign participation be encouraged on a significant scale, they say.
Copyright © 1999 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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