Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : The New Qualcomm - a S&P500 company -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sawtooth who wrote (1183)	8/31/1999 12:23:00 PM
From: bananawind	Respond to of 13582

China Telecom spins off mobile unit [although nothing here for cdma, I take this as good news indicating that telecom reformers in China still have the upper hand. Next step is freeing up Unicom to do a financing and build out their cdmaOne system] Firm spins off mobile section THE Beijing Mobile Communications Company (BMCC), originally part of China Telecom, was established last week and the government hopes the change will be a great leap forward for China's telecommunications sector to embrace the challenges of the 21st century. The new company was founded last Saturday in line with the strategic policies to divide China Telecom into separate companies offering services in four areas _ mobile communications, fixed line, paging and satellite data transmission, approved by the State Council and the Ministry of Information Industry in the first half of the year. "The separation of Beijing mobile communication sector from Beijing Telecommunication Administration Bureau (BTAB) represented a new milestone for the Chinese Government to restructure its telecommunication sectors," said Su Jinsheng, head of the preparatory panel for China Mobile Communication Group. It is part of the reorganization of China Telecom and will contribute substantially to making the sector more market-oriented in a real sense, he said, adding it may also act as a demonstration for the whole country. Ni Yilin, director of BTAB, said to end the monopoly situation is the demands of both market and technology development since one company cannot cope with the mushrooming telecommunications industry. According to the departing plan, BMCC will continue to operate the GSM network, formerly run by Beijing Wireless Communication Bureau. The new company now has fixed assets of 5.4 billion yuan (US$650 million), with the asset liability ration of 29.2 per cent and a total employment of 2,175 people. BMCC released a set of intelligent cards with different value last Saturday to enable mobile phone users to enjoy convenient and reliable roam services in 12 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenyang, Fuzhou and Chengdu. "The development of our company will focus on the expansion of GSM (global system of mobile communications) in the capital areas by upgrading the network quality and mobile communication technologies," said Dong Huiyi, general manager of BMCC. Statistics from BTAB indicated that the switch capacity for GSM users in Beijing reached 2 million users, with the current users exceeding 1.3 million. The annual increase rate for mobile phone users in the capital city topped 125 per cent, according to BTAB. By the end of this year, the figure is expected to surpass 1.5 million. Currently, the penetration rate for mobile phones in Beijing is over 10 per cent, 7.8 percentage points higher than the countries average level. Wang Guangtao, Beijing's vice-mayor, said the separation of the mobile communication sector marked a new phase for the telecommunication development in the area. "The fast development of mobile communications in Beijing has generated new vitality to the capital city's economic development," he said. Date: 08/30/1999 Author: Chen Zhiming Copyright¸ by China Daily