Telecommunications industry in the People's Republic of China
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:''This article discusses the telecommunications industry in mainland China. For Hong Kong and Macau, see
Communications in Hong Kong Communications in Hong Kong includes a wide-ranging and sophisticated network of radio, television, telephone, Internet, and related online services, reflecting Hong Kong's thriving commerce and international importance. There are some 60 onli ...
and
Communications in Macau With Macau's small population (about 500,000) and market, only a few media options are available for the local people. Because radio signals, newspapers and magazines from Hong Kong are available in Macau, the local media are always a minority group ...
.'' The telecommunications industry in
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
is dominated by three state-run businesses: China Telecom, China Unicom and China Mobile. The three companies were formed by restructuring launched in May 2008, directed by the Ministry of Information Industry (MII), National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Minister of Finance. Since then, all three companies gained nationwide fixed-line and cellular mobile telecom licenses in China. In 2019, all three telecoms were issued 5G national licenses. As a result of China’s entry to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, a new regulatory regime was established and foreign firms were allowed to access the market under restrictions. In 2012, Huawei Technologies overtook Sweden's Ericsson to become the world's largest telecom equipment vendor. In that same year, there were over 284.3 million fixed-line telephone subscribers and 1.01 billion mobile phone subscribers in China.Donald Melanson, 30 March 2012
China officially tops one billion mobile subscribers
Engadget
As of 2021, there are over 989 million internet users and around 1.62 billion mobile phone subscriptions in China, and the telecom sector's monthly revenue was over 100 billion yuan ($15.52 billion). As of 2021, China is the only country known to work towards a single-stack IPv6 network. The country announced plans in 2017 to lead globally in IPV6 adoption by 2025, and achieve full nationwide rollout by 2030. Experts believe that such a plan to widely adopt IPv6 for the country’s internet infrastructure, can help China to increase its leadership in 5G and
Internet of Things The Internet of things (IoT) describes physical objects (or groups of such objects) with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other comm ...
across multiple varying industries.


Introduction

The Chinese telecommunication sector’s growth rate was about 20% between 1997 and 2002. Chinese
fixed-line A landline (land line, land-line, main line, home phone, fixed-line, and wireline) is a telephone connection that uses metal wires or optical fiber telephone line for transmission, as distinguished from a mobile cellular network, which uses ...
and mobile operators have invested an average of $25 billion on network infrastructure in the last few years, which will be more than all western European carriers combined. As a result, with 1.3 billion citizens, China has the world’s largest fixed-line and mobile network in terms of both network capacity and number of subscribers. China’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) on December 11, 2001 resulted in the gradual opening of the telecom services market to foreign companies.


Historical overview

Before 1994, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MTP) provided telecom services through its operational arm, China Telecom. Pressured by other ministries and dissenting customers, the Chinese government officially started the telecom industry reforms in 1994 by introducing a new competitor: China Unicom. China Unicom could hardly compete with the giant China Telecom. In 1998, due to a ministerial reorganization, the MTP was replaced by the new Ministry of Information Industry (MII). The MII took two large scale reshuffling actions targeting the inefficient state-monopoly. In 1999 the first restructuring split China Telecom’s business into three parts (fixed-line, mobile and satellite). China Mobile and China Satcom were created to run, respectively, the mobile and satellite sectors but China Telecom continued to be a monopoly of fixed-line services. The second restructuring in 2002 split China Telecom geographically into north and south: China Telecom - North kept 30% of the network resources and formed China Netcom (CNC) and 70% of the resources were retained by China Telecom - South or simply the new China Telecom. Parallel to this double fission, the telecommunications division of the Ministry of Railways (MOR) established a new actor in 2000:
China TieTong China Mobile Tietong () is a major state-owned basic telecommunications operator in China. Its former name was China Tietong Telecommunications Corporation (abbr. CTT; Chinese: "中国铁通集团有限公司", or abbr. "中国铁通") and also Ch ...
.J. Wang, C. Werker, ''Telecommunications Equipment Market in China'' Stat-USA Market Research Reports. 2004 These resources consisted of a 2,200,000 km long nationwide optical network, based on Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM),
Synchronous Digital Hierarchy Synchronous optical networking (SONET) and synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) are standardized protocols that transfer multiple digital bit streams synchronously over optical fiber using lasers or highly coherent light from light-emitting diode ...
(SDH) and Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) technologies and several submarine cables, in particular with the USA, Japan, Germany, and Russia. To sum up, the Chinese telecom industry has changed from a state-run
monopolistic A monopoly (from Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situation where a spec ...
structure to a state-run oligopolistic structure. In May 2008, MII, NDRC and Minister of Finance announced the third restructuring proposal and also launched three 3G licenses. With the rapid development and serious competition, Chinese telecom operators face challenges on shrinking landline users, too rapid of a growth in mobile businesses, low profit services and great gaps among the carriers. The third revolution was to combine six main telecom operators into three, aiming to develop 3G businesses and full telecom services, and avoiding monopolistic and over competition.


Regulatory environment

The MII is responsible, among other duties, for elaborating regulations, allocating resources, granting licenses, supervising the competition, promoting research and development and service quality as well as for developing tariff rates.''China: Telecommunications.'' US Commercial Service. 2003.C. Sharkey, M. Wang, ''An Overview of the Telecommunications and Broadcasting Market in China'', Stat-USA Market Research Reports. 2003. The MII has built up a nationwide regulatory system composed of Provincial Telecommunications Administrations (PTA) with regulatory functions within their respective provinces. A number of other significant institutions also influence the industry, such as the State Development and Reform Commission (SDRC). Following its WTO accession, China is starting to make plans, including adopting western-style telecommunications law and setting up an independent regulatory and arbitration body to deal with the telecom operators. Since 2014, the Cyberspace Administration of China is responsible for setting policy and the regulatory framework for user content generated in online social activities on Internet portals.


Foreign participation

Before China’s membership of the WTO in 2001, China protected its emerging national telecom industry which was and still is regarded as a national priority sector. Only foreign equipment vendors were allowed to invest in China.E. Sautedé, ''Telecoms in China: Towards a Post-WTO Shock Therapy?'', China Perspectives. 2002. Authorization for the investments was conditioned on technology transfer. International telecom carriers were banned from accessing the market. As part of its commitments to the WTO, the Chinese government is gradually opening the carrier market to foreign investors. There are some geographical limits to this opening which will be progressively relaxed. In 2005, foreign investors were authorised to form joint ventures, investing up to 50% in Internet services in the whole country, up to 49% in the mobile sector in 17 major Chinese cities and up to 25% in fixed-line basic services in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou (Canton). Finding a Chinese partner to form a joint venture with, preferably a major carrier, is mandatory for a foreign company wishing to access the Chinese market. Foreign investments have come, in order of importance, from the United States, Canada,
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
, Finland, Germany, France,
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, and South Korea. Many companies from these countries have established one or more joint ventures, not all of which have been successful.


Market overview

As of March 2012, China has 284.3 million fixed-line subscribers and 1.01 billion mobile customers. Chinese telecom operators focus their effort on voice. Revenues from data only account 5%. New technologies are being deployed to provide differential services. These technologies include ADSL, wireless LAN technology, IP (Internet Protocol) telephony and services associated with mobile communications such as
Short Messaging Service Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...
(SMS),
Multimedia Messaging Service Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) is a standard way to send messages that include multimedia content to and from a mobile phone over a cellular network. Users and providers may refer to such a message as a PXT, a picture message, or a multimedia ...
(MMS),
ring tone A ringtone, ring tone or ring is the sound made by a telephone to indicate an incoming call. Originally referring to and made by the electromechanical striking of bells, the term now refers to any sound on any device alerting of a new incoming ...
download etc. Premium SMS connectivity is allowing entrepreneurs and established businesses to profit from revenue taken directly from users' monthly phone bills or pre-paid credit. One of the first companies to offer such Chinese Premium SMS connectivity to the world market and to advise on the regulations and requirements involved are mBILL. Chinese operators are often cautious in purchasing cutting-edge technologies.J. Wang, C. Werker, ''Telecommunications Equipment Market in China'' Stat-USA Market Research Reports. 2004. Mobile communication, especially Global System for Mobile (GSM) is the most profitable sub sector and reports 46% of all total revenues. Halfway between mobile and fixed, Xiaolingtong is a limited mobility service based on Personal Access System (PAS)/
Personal Handy Phone System The Personal Handy-phone System (PHS), also marketed as the Personal Communication Telephone (PCT) in Thailand, and the Personal Access System (PAS) and commercially branded as ''Xiaolingtong'' () in Mainland China, was a mobile network system ...
(PHS) technology. It consists of a wireless local loop that provides access to the fixed-line network. With over 50 million users, PAS/PHS competes in big cities head to head with traditional mobile services since prices are typically far cheaper.


Telecom operators

As of 2009, the telecom operators in China are exclusively Chinese: two fixed-line operators with nationwide licenses - China Telecom and China Unicom, three mobile carriers - China Telecom ( CDMA and
CDMA2000 CDMA2000 (also known as C2K or IMT Multi‑Carrier (IMT‑MC)) is a family of 3G mobile technology standards for sending voice, data, and signaling data between mobile phones and cell sites. It is developed by 3GPP2 as a backwards-compatible ...
), China Mobile ( GSM and TD-SCDMA) and China Unicom ( GSM and WCDMA). The State has control and majority ownership of all of them. Most of them are financed in Hong Kong. * China Telecom is one of the largest telecommunication SOEs in China, including 31 semi-autonomous provincial enterprises in mainland China. It runs land-line and mobile phone networks, operates a PAS system and provides telecom network-based voice, data, multimedia and information services. In 2008, the company acquired CDMA network from China Unicom. A second focus point is broadband based on Ethernet and ADSL. In Jan 2009, China Telcom was one of the three companies having a 3G license, CDMA2000. * China Mobile operates basic GSM services and value-added services such as
General Packet Radio Service General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a packet oriented mobile data standard on the 2G and 3G cellular communication network's global system for mobile communications (GSM). GPRS was established by European Telecommunications Standards Inst ...
(GPRS) data transfer, a TD-SCDMA 3G network, IP telephony and multimedia. It ranks the first in the world in terms of network scale and customer base. * China Unicom merged with China Netcom in October 2008 and obtained a WCDMA license in January 2009. The company offers mobile phone services, operates domestic and international landline networks, and provides broadband multimedia services, IP telephony, and value-added services. * China Netcom was acquired by China Unicom in October 2008. *
China Satcom China Satellite Communications Co., Ltd. known as China Satcom is a Chinese aerospace company that provides services via satellites. The company was a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). China Satellite Communi ...
was licensed to engage in all kinds of satellite related services such as transponder lease, domestic television broadcasting, public very-small-aperture terminal (VSAT) communications, video conferencing, data broadcasting, IP telephony, and satellite-based high-speed Internet access. In March 2009, the company announced its basic telephone services (excluding satellite transponder lease and sales) were merged with China Telecom. The rest of the assets including the company would be acquired by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. *
China TieTong China Mobile Tietong () is a major state-owned basic telecommunications operator in China. Its former name was China Tietong Telecommunications Corporation (abbr. CTT; Chinese: "中国铁通集团有限公司", or abbr. "中国铁通") and also Ch ...
, formerly affiliated with the national rail network, is a smaller operator that merged with China Mobile in May 2008. * China Voice Holdings Corp is also licensed to engage in video conferencing, data broadcasting, IP telephony, and satellite-based high-speed Internet access and is the largest corporation in conjunction with foreign owned corporations which hold many of the state-run contracts for the Chinese government.


Network equipment suppliers in China

The leading international suppliers of network equipment - Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Ericsson, Huawei, Nortel and
Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...
- as well as the major international suppliers of portable phone sets - Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, and also Siemens - are well known in China. A large number of Chinese companies compete now with foreign corporations not only in the Chinese market but also in other countries. Datang is the main TD-SCDMA manufacturer, and UTStarcom, the main PAS/PHS manufacturer. Huawei leads the SMS market and Great Wall stands out in the broadband sector. Other recognized Chinese equipment suppliers are Shanghai Bell (subsidiary of Nokia) and Zhongxing Telecommunications Equipment (ZTE). Furthermore,
Amoi Amoi Technology Co., Ltd. () is a Chinese electronics company based in Xiamen, Fujian. It is a mobile service provider which integrates manufacturing, research and development, and sales of mobile communication devices. History Amoi was establi ...
, Konka Group,
Ningbo Bird Ningbo Bird or Bodao (宁波波导股份有限公司) is a Chinese manufacturer of mobile phones. Ningbo Bird was the largest vendor of mobile phones in China from 2003 to 2005. History The company was established in 1992 in Fenghua and, in 1997 ...
and
Kejan Kejan ( fa, كجان, also Romanized as Kejān and Kajān) is a village in Baharestan Rural District, in the Central District of Nain County, Isfahan Province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called ...
are the most representative Chinese mobile phone manufacturers.


Online and mobile gaming

Chinese fixed line telecom operators will work with their business partners, online gaming operators and ISPs/ ICPs, to provide online games and mobile games in 2005. This can be a market of billions of U.S. dollars. Online gaming/mobile gaming developers work with the telecom operators directly or work with gaming operators and ISPs/ICPs to market their games in China.


Wireless LAN

Chinese fixed line telecom operators, China Telecom, China Netcom and China Tie Tong (formally China Railcom), may increase their efforts in building wireless LAN networks to provide their customers with fast and easy wireless access to the internet. The fixed-line telecom operators will continue to promote ADSL and other
broadband access Internet access is the ability of individuals and organizations to connect to the Internet using computer terminals, computers, and other devices; and to access services such as email and the World Wide Web. Internet access is sold by Internet ...
technologies in China.


Public safety system

With increasing awareness of the importance of the government’s ability to deal with critical situations, there is a growing demand for emergency response systems in China. Without an organization like the
National Emergency Number Association The National Emergency Number Association (NENA) is an organization whose mission it is to foster the technological advancement, availability, and implementation of a universal emergency telephone number system in the United States. In carrying ou ...
(NENA) in the United States, China has not yet developed a national technical standard for its emergency response system. Large and economically well-off cities in China like Beijing, Tianjin,
Nanning Nanning (; ; za, Namzningz) is the capital and largest city by population of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in Southern China. It is known as the "Green City" because of its abundance of lush subtropical foliage. Located in the South of ...
and
Chengdu Chengdu (, ; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively Romanization of Chi ...
have started building public safety networks by introducing TETRA-based digital trunking systems that integrate with their existing analogue systems. More Chinese cities followed in 2005. There has been development of database software, interoperability consoles and data management systems. There has been an increasing use of Internet of Things (IoT) to install wireless intelligent fire, smoke and gas detection systems nationwide and China Mobile has installed over 100,000 NB-IoT intelligent fire alarm systems, including smoke, gas and temperature sensors, and fire alarms across the country.


See also

* Mobile phone industry in China * Communications in China *
Digital divide in China Over the past decade, there has been an increase in the use of information and communications technologies (ICTs) in China. As the largest developing country in the world, China faces a severe digital divide, which exists not only between Mainla ...
* Electronic information industry in China *
Economy of China The China, People's Republic of China has an upper middle income Developing country, developing Mixed economy, mixed socialist market economy that incorporates economic planning through Industrial policy, industrial policies and strategic Five- ...
* List of telecommunications regulatory bodies


Footnotes


References

# ''Telecommunications Markets in China'' Pyramid. 2003 # ''China: Telecommunications''. US Commercial Service. 2003. # T. Parks, C. Yuanzhe, ''The next Stage of the Chinese Telecom Market'', Parks Associates. 2003. # S. Lin, ''A new Changing Landscape''. 2003. # C. Sharkey, M. Wang, ''An Overview of the Telecommunications and Broadcasting Market in China'', Stat-USA Market Research Reports. 2003. # W. Ying, ''China Market Overview'', UTStarcom. 2004. # D. Liu, ''Prospect of Telecom and Internet Markets in China'' BII Group Holdings Ltd. 2002. # C. Watts, ''China’s Telecom Market: An overview'', China Business. 2003. # A. Chetham, ''After the Boom in China’s Telecom Market''. Gartner. 2003. # J. Henry, T. Phan, ''Telecommunications and Information Technology in China''. Export America. 2003. # J. Story, ''China: the Race to the Market''. McGraw Hill. 2004. # W. Foster. S. Goodman, ''The Diffusion of the Internet in China'', CISAC, Stanford University", 2001. {{Economy of China Industry in China Telecommunications in China Telecommunication industry