[photopress:It_mobile_user_1.jpg,full,alignright]So integrated is the mobile communications device into Chinese society that the authorities have been puzzling for ages over the best way to channel investment for the future.
The thought of leaving it to a free market was ruled out. Chinese regulators jealously guard the role of the state in directing industrial policy — and the key players remain majority state-owned.
The big three that emerged from the reshuffle were China Mobile — the world’s biggest phone company by market value, with 399m mobile subscribers — and its two rivals, China Telecom and China Unicom.
The government’s stated aim was to intervene in the interests of competition and to provide for the arrival of so-called third generation (3G) high-speed mobile services.
Fast internet access, games and multimedia content, from music videos to financial information, will all become available to Chinese users, promising a level of mobile-technology use to rank alongside Japan or South Korea.
Chinese market analysts instinctively saw the changes as a move to weaken China Mobile, which has profited from a 70% share of the market.
Wang Yiwen, general manager of Shanghai Deding Investments said, ‘I believe this restructuring will reduce monopolistic tendencies in the telecoms market. It means the government will introduce an asymmetrical regulatory system to help China Telecom and China Unicom to compete with China Mobile.’
The focus is now turning to the significant capital expenditure that all three companies are expected to need to launch new services.[photopress:it_mobile_phone_2.jpg,full,alignleft]
A broader issue is that the Chinese authorities do not appear to have resolved their view of so-called “digital convergence” in which the flow of information and images to consumers may multiply the audience for news — both good and bad.
The government may soon discover that regulating the telecoms providers is a minor challenge compared with controlling the citizens who will ultimately use their services to communicate with each other. More on this by clicking HERE.
Source: Times Online
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