BEIJING-China marked its one-year anniversary World Trade Organization (WTO) membership 11 December. As part of its members, foreign operators gained the right to set up joint ventures with Chinese counterparts for mobile and value-added operations with a maximum foreign participation of 25 percent a year ago, rising to 35 percent this December.
But one year after China’s WTO accession, only one joint venture has been set up. Shanghai Symphony Telecom is a partnership between AT&T, the China Telecom Shanghai Branch and the Shanghai city government offering broadband services.
Foreign operators are wary to take the plunge because a series of restrictions hamper the possibility of developing a profitable business. One issue is that the date for China’s 3G license awards is still guesswork
President George Huang of Nortel Networks China expects China to issue third-generation (3G) licenses following a government reshuffle in March. However, outgoing Minister of Information industry Wu Jichuan told the press at the ITU Telecom Asia 2002 Conference in Hong Kong there is still no timetable, and issuing licenses would be based on market demand, which according to the minister, has not materialized yet.
Nortel Networks is offering products based on W-CDMA and cdma2000 and is also a founding member of the TD-SCDMA Forum, so no matter which technology standard Chinese operators choose, Nortel will likely get a part of the pie.
China Unicom recently awarded Nortel Networks contracts worth around US$320 million to expand its GSM as well as its CDMA networks.
