Chinas Telecommunications Reforms

In the early 1990s, China started to reform its telecommunications regime by removing barriers to foreign and private investment and encouraging competition. This text applies the "Public Choice Plus" theory (developed in the study of economics) to the analysis of the policymaking process of China's telecommunications reforms. Guan is a senior fellow at the Centre for Innovation Law and Policy at the U. of Toronto.

Analyses China's telecommunications sector and policy and examines how it fits into China's economic and political reform process.

This book attempts to draw lessons from the experiences of developed as well as developing countries in carrying out telecommunications reform. Contributors come from academia, as well as from stakeholders in telecommunications policy in a dozen countries, mostly in the Asia-Pacific region. Globally, the telecommunications industry is undergoing major changes: technological advances in the form of a vast number of new digitised services, ownership shifts as state-owned carriers in many countries become fully or partly privatized, and a general transition from monopolistic to more competitive market environments. The economic and regulatory experiences derived from these changes are explored and analyzed using the USA, the UK, Australia and Singapore to represent developed and newly industrialized countries, and China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam as examples of developing countries. The conclusions outlined in this timely volume hold important lessons for these as well as for other countries.

From Iron Fist to Invisible Hand uses telecommunications policy as a window to examine major contradictions in China's growth as an economic and political superpower. While China policy analysts wonder why the government occasionally restrains growth and raises prices, technologists marvel at how the telecommunications industry continues to grow enormously despite constraints and unpredictability in the market. Frustration is pervasive in the business environment, where regulations are constantly changing. This book provides six policy-focused case studies, each centered on a question with implications for telecome stakeholders, such as: Who is the regulator?Who are the regulated? Which foreigners can enter China, thereby regulating wholesale prices, setting consumer prices, and introducing Internet and innovative technologies? These cases explain the government's liberal and conservative approach toward reform, the policies that both promote and constrain business, and the major hurdles that lie ahead in telecommunications reform.

This dissertation, "The Reforms and Development of China's Telecommunications Sector in the Light of Its Accession Into the World Trade Organization" by Ching-man, Chan, 陳靜雯, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author. Abstract: Abstract China's telecommunications service sector was traditionally protected from both domestic and foreign competition. The sector was monopolized by the former Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPT), which acted as both the regulator and the public operator. Foreign participation was also strictly prohibited. Two major rounds of reforms were initiated during the period 1993 and 1994, and during 1998 and 1999. The key reforms and development included the establishment of China Unicom in 1994, the formation of the Ministry of Information Industry (ME) in 1998, and the first breakup of China Telecom in 1999. The second breakup of China Telecom in 2002 was another significant development. A number of factors led to these reforms and development, namely the global trend of liberalization of the telecommunications service sector, the dissatisfaction with the monopoly, the government's desire to create a competitive market, and the need to comply with the World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments. The research attempts to examine the possible impact of these reforms and development by studying the statistics of various aspects of the main operators and of the sector in the last decade. Any changes in a micro and/or macro perspective may be attributable to such reforms. Findings show a slowing growth of the sector in the past few years in terms of business volume, realized revenue, realized fixed asset investment; and the formation and growth of China Mobile, China Netcom, and China Unicom at the expense of China Telecom regarding the number of subscribers, operating revenue, realized fixed asset investment, and business volume. After accession into the WTO, it is anticipated that foreign participation in the sector will be active. However, this is not the case so far. It is expected that the domestic operators will continue to dominate the sector in the near future; at least until the WTO commitments are fully implemented. DOI: 10.5353/th_b2951901 Subjects: Telecommunication - Economic aspects - China Telecommunication policy - China Competition, International

This book explains the history, current situation, market size and technological level of China's telecommunication industry in detail. It also provides an introduction to the main operators in China and their respective market shares and network technologies. Information about major equipment manufacturing enterprises and their major products is also provided, and their competitive strengths are analyzed. Finally, the book describes the evolution of China's telecommunication regulatory regime, the changes in telecommunication policies and the reform of regulatory practices. The impact of these reform measures is then briefly evaluated.

Before the 1990s, China's telecommunications sector was a lacklustre monopoly featured by poor-quality service and inadequate capacity. Today the country boasts a dynamic telecommunications industry with the world's largest communications network and user-base with over 460 million telephone subscribers. China's accession to the WTO in 2001 has opened this huge developing telecommunications market to foreign participation and investment. The authors examine the singularity of the Chinese experience in building up its extensive telecommunications network in merely a decade, by reviewing China's national industrial policies and institutional reforms within the industry. The reader will find in this volume a unique and in-depth analysis of the interplay between political and economic forces amidst the industry's structural overhaul and regulatory reforms. The accounts of industrial features and market conditions are enriched with up-to-date data, which are extremely useful for appreciating the development and prospects for this fast-growing market, set against the backdrop of China's accession to the WTO. Scholars of China or Asian studies and researchers of information-communications industry and Asian/China studies will find this work of great interest, as will governmental policymakers, both in China and beyond. For foreign business practitioners eyeing this market, this volume provides a helpful guide to understand China's various interests and public welfare considerations that motivate changes in policies towards foreign investment and participation.

Communications and Information in China is a focused analysis of the four fundamentals of the Chinese communications and information sector: dynamic landscape, which includes, most importantly, status, trends, directions, initiatives and characteristics of the Chinese IT and communications industries; policy and regulatory framework, which represents a very hard-to-understand mish-mash of the Chinese political and regulatory structure that has significant impact on where, how and what Chinese IT related industries are heading to; ten most crucial regulatory and strategic issues that derive from China's domestic, political, economic and technological realities and controversies; and foreign involvement, which covers high stakes, critical challenges and contextual forces that international companies face. In-depth discussion also digs into what implications China's telecommunications industry reform and its WTO accession will have on foreign players who are involved in China's enormous but complex IT and communications market.