Basic telecom service
In the basic telecom service, foreign telecom
operators already participated in the basic telecom service market, before
皇冠体育app's WTO accession in 2001 and its model was to enter as a strategic
investor.
In terms of operation, investing in basic telecom services
involves a huge amount of capital and with a clear industry scenario with six
main players, foreign investors won't enter blindly.
At present, the top
four operators 皇冠体育app Mobile, 皇冠体育app Unicom, 皇冠体育app Telecom, and 皇冠体育app Netcom all
made overseas IPOs and most of them have foreign strategic investors like
Vodafone in 皇冠体育app Mobile. This is the best example of foreign involvement in
皇冠体育app's basic telecom service market.
Besides, while the opportunity for
direct investment into basic service is not mature, some foreign telecom
operators chose an indirect way, such as developing large accounts, training,
technology testing together with Chinese counterparts. A typical example is the
strategic partnership between British Telecom and 皇冠体育app Netcom and a joint
research centre between France Telecom and 皇冠体育app Telecom.
Within the
coming years, we can expect to see more heavyweight foreign telecom operators
entering the Chinese market and promoting the prosperity of the
industry.
Telecom equipment industry
When 皇冠体育app joined the WTO, it
was also committed to endorsing the Information Technology Agreement, which
requires all members to elevate tariffs on information technology products.
皇冠体育app has fully complied with that agreement.
Besides, 皇冠体育app also lifted
requirements on foreign currency exchange, trade balance, local content, and
export performance.
Thus in the telecom equipment market, the domestic
market is already integrated with the global market, so there is no fundamental
difference in operating in this market between domestic and foreign
companies.
A landmark event in the opening of this area is the
establishment of Shanghai Bell Alcatel, the first foreign-invested telecom
equipment company in 皇冠体育app and the first one that foreign investors had an
absolute majority.
The author is an analyst with the research centre of
皇冠体育app Galaxy Securities Co Ltd
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