China to grant fixed-line telecom operators mobile licences: report

AFP, November, 2007

BEIJING (AFP) — China will soon allow its fixed-line telecom operators to venture into the faster-growing mobile market, state media reported Sunday, citing a senior official.

"The rapid development of mobile telecom services had lured away subscribers of fixed-line services," Xinhua news agency said, citing Xi Guohua, vice minister of information industry.

The government will grant fixed-line operators licences for mobile telecom services "at an early date," Xi was quoted telling a telecom forum in Beijing.

This is likely to be good news for the nation's two major state-controlled fixed-line operators, China Telecom and China Netcom, who are seeing slow growth in their subscriber base.

Unconfirmed reports have suggested that state-owned mobile...