telecom - Giants possibly to merge - Shanghai Daily




Amazing news in the Shanghai Daily of today (unfortunately only in their hardcopy paper): the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) plans to merge the current four giant telecom providers into two.
The previous premier Zhu Rongji had many head-on conflicts with the then Minister of Information Industry Wu Jichuan when he tried to split up the monopolist China Telecom. In two large operations China Telecom was first split along modalities (fixed lines, beepers, mobile and satellite), and only a few years ago again geographically, in north and south.
The MII seems to be consolidating its operation again, now Zhu is gone and foreign competition might come in under the WTO. The rather obvious reasons: cost reductions.
The original news comes from the Ming Pao Daily in Hong Kong and in the China Daily MII official said they did not know anything about the plans for a merger.