China's leading telecoms companies will cut spending by 21 per cent this year, according to a report by Norson Telecom Consulting. The Beijing-based market research group predicted that investment in telecoms equipment by China's five top fixed-line and mobile carriers would total Yn98.5bn, down from Yn125bn in 2001.
The report attributed the slowdown to the break-up of fixed-line carrier China Telecom and increasing market uncertainty at China's two mobile carriers, China Mobile and China Unicom.