Ramsey and all,
JGoran, Do not miss this post regarding China. Repeat! Read it. Do not hit "next" on this one. (ggg)
I know most of you guys do not read Chinese. Here is a link that will help. Well. GSM is there to stay in China. Whether one likes it or not. Hopefully, the Chinese government will open its door for CDMA to compete.
cthk.com
I do have another URL that only shows in Chinese beside the above one. The above company is a portion of the China Telecomm..
From the link, (one should go to its site to read the other links)
Competition
The Group was the sole commercial cellular network operator in Guangdong and Zhejiang from the date it began operations in such provinces, in November 1987 and May 1992, respectively, until Unicom commenced commercial cellular operations in Guangdong and Zhejiang in July 1995 and March 1997, respectively. Unicom, whose principal shareholders are the Ministries of Railroads, Electronics Industry and Electric Power, was established pursuant to an approval of the State Council dated December 1993.Unicom is aggressively marketing its services through discounted connection fees and other measures in order to build its subscriber base, and is seeking to expand its network coverage and capacity. As investment in cellular networks is largely fixed and tariffs are subject to maximum limits set by Government authorities, profitability in the cellular telephone industry is fundamentally driven by subscriber growth.
The Group believes that it has a significant advantage in the competition for subscribers due to its wider network coverage, high network performance standards, greater roaming capabilities, wide range of value added service features offered, and its relationship with the MPT System. This relationship with the MPT System allow the Group markets its cellular services through an extensive network of distributors within the MPT System under the "China Telecom" logo pursuant to a non-exclusive license agreement with the DGT. There can be no assurance that the DGT will not license the "China Telecom" trademark to other affiliated parties.
Although the Group currently does not face significant competition in Guangdong and Zhejiang, where it had an estimated market share of 98.4% as of May 31, 1997, the Group expects that competition for cellular subscribers will increase. In addition, there can be no assurance that the State Council will not approve additional cellular service providers in the future that will compete with the Group. The Group may also become subject to competition from providers of new services based on new or existing technologies. Increased competition from the Group's existing competitors and the introduction of additional competition in the Group's business could have an adverse effect on the Group's results of operations through, among other things, decreases in the Group's tariffs and increases in selling and promotional expenses.
In 1995, the MPT System and CESEC, a state-owned enterprise independent from the MPT and the Company, initiated the CDMA Project to explore the feasibility of deploying 800 MHz CDMA technology in public cellular networks in China. See "CDMA Project". The MPT has undertaken to the Company that the MPT System will not participate, directly or indirectly, in the provision of in any province in which the Group cellular services currently operates or may operate in the future. In connection therewith, the MPT has undertaken to contribute to the Group, at the Group's option, the entire interest, if any,held by the MPT System in the CDMA Project in any such province when and if the CDMA Project, after trial operations, becomes commercially feasible.
The Group's operations, along with those of other cellular network operators, are subject to a high degree of regulation by the MPT. See "----Regulation".The MPT has undertaken to the Group that, to the extent within its power, the Group and its subsidiaries will be treated equally with all other cellular telephone operators in respect of all approvals, transactions and arrangements between the Group and its subsidiaries, on the one hand, and entities within the MPT System, on the other hand.
The Group also faces indirect competition from providers of other wireless communications services, such as paging. Although these services offer substantially lower prices for services, the Group does not believe that such services constitute significant competition, as they provide a much more limited range of services compared to cellular telecommunications services. In the future, the Group may also face competition from the implementation of new technologies, such as satellite telephones and fixed wireless telephone systems.
In general, the Group believes that the introduction of orderly competition has had a positive impact on the market for cellular telecommunications services by stimulating network buildup and improvements in service quality, increasing awareness of cellular services among potential subscribers, and advancing the pace of the search for technical innovations and efficiency improvements.
Brian H.
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