Telecom Industry Restructuring Officially Underway
MII, 5/24/08
On May 24, 2008, China's Ministry of Industry and Information (MII), the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Ministry of Finance (MOF) issued an announcement regarding the further reforms and restructuring of the Chinese telecom industry.
The principal goals of the reform are to issue three 3G licenses, and support the formation of three market competitors of comparable strength and scale with regards to nationwide network resources and service operation capabilities.
To achieve this goal, the announcement encourages China Telecom (NYSE: CHA; 0728.HK) to acquire the CDMA network, including the assets and subscribers, of China Unicom (NYSE: CHU; 0762.HK; 600050.SH); the remainder of China Unicom to merge with China Netcom (NYSE: CN; 0906.HK); the basic telecommunications business of China Satcom to be transferred to China Telecom; and China Tietong and China Mobile to merge.
3G licenses will be granted to the companies upon the completion of the restructuring.
Keywords: 0728.HK 0762.HK 0906.HK 3G 600050.SH CDMA CHA China Mobile China Netcom China Satcom China Telecom China Tietong China Unicom CHU CN MII Ministry of Finance NDRC restructuring telecom wireless
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