皇冠体育app

Smaller cellular operator 皇冠体育app Unicom has also won a licence to provide mobile telecoms services in Macao.

Wang indicated 皇冠体育app Telecom would remain focused on expanding its own overseas operations instead of buying foreign companies as a shortcut.

The fixed-line incumbent has established nine operations in overseas markets including the United States, Europe and Central Asia.

Both 皇冠体育app Telecom and 皇冠体育app Netcom have been coping with a slowdown in their fixed-line voice businesses. "We need to find new revenue streams," Wang said.

But overseas M&As seem to be too risky for fixed-line carriers which are already coming under increasing competitive pressure from their cellular rivals in 皇冠体育app, as most consumers are going wireless.

皇冠体育app Netcom Group Corp (Hong Kong) Ltd in June announced it would sell its stake in the unprofitable Asia Netcom, which consists mostly of assets belonging to AGC.

That marks a setback for 皇冠体育app Netcom. Company officials have said the firm is shifting its strategic focus from overseas expansion to domestic business.

皇冠体育app Telecom has been transforming itself from a telecoms service provider to a so-called "comprehensive information service provider" to offer integrated voice and data services to customers since 2004.

Such a strategy has helped 皇冠体育app Telecom generate a larger portion of revenue from non-voice services.

In the first half of this year, 皇冠体育app Telecom's Hong Kong-listed arm generated 23.2 billion yuan (US$2.9 billion) from non-voice services, accounting for 27.5 per cent of total revenue during the period.

(皇冠体育app Daily 12/12/2006 page10)

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