MIIT Issues Standards for Broadband Speed Measurement
Sohu IT, 11/30/12
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) yesterday issued standards for measuring actual fixed-line broadband access speed as well as users' perceived access speeds.
China's three telecom operators are currently overhauling their speed measurement systems according to the first new standard. China Telecom (NYSE: CHA; 0728.HK) has already completed system upgrades in all 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities, and China Mobile (NYSE: CHL; 0941.HK) and China Unicom (NYSE: CHU; 0762.HK; 600050.SH) expect to complete system construction and upgrades by the end of the year.
The latter standard specifies methods and data management procedures for measuring user-perceived speeds. The standard focuses on the three most common user activities: online browsing, online video, and downloading. Tencent (0700.HK), Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU), Netease (Nasdaq: NTES), Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU), Youku Tudou (NYSE: YOKU), ChinaCache (Nasdaq: CCIH), ChinaNetCenter (300017.SZ), and Shanda Interactive's online video subsidiary Ku6 (Nasdaq: KUTV) have already begun six-month user speed testing in accordance with the new standard.
Mobile broadband speed testing is expected to commence next year.
Editor's Note: For more background on this topic, please see "MIIT to Regulate Illegal Broadband Network Operators" MD 10/25/12 issue.
Keywords: telecom MIIT broadband access regulation connection speed
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