Top Biz News

Telecom law not yet in sight

By Li Weitao (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-02-28 09:29

The fast-growing telecommunications, Internet and broadcast networks and the emergence of new technologies and services such as broadcasting via Internet and mobile phone networks have largely blurred boundaries within the industry.

A regulation issued by the State Council in 1999 prohibits telecom operators and broadcasters from entering each other's turf. That means in China a telecom operator is not allowed to offer broadcasting services, while a broadcaster cannot provide telephone and Internet access services.

In recent years deregulation has enabled some cable TV service operators to offer Internet access via cable. Some telecom operators have been awarded licenses to offer broadcasting services via the Internet.

"But the contraction of interests of the telecom and broadcast industries is still hampering full deregulation," the MII official said.

Competition peaked in 2005 when local broadcasting regulators in Quanzhou, a city in East China'sFujianProvince, ordered China Telecom andShanghaiMedia Group (SMG) to cease a trial of IPTV (Internet Protocol TV) services, although SMG had already secured an IPTV license.

Industry observers said broadcast regulators halted the IPTV trial because they wanted to promote digital TV services.

"Operators of broadcast and telecom networks as well as regulators need to collaborate at a time when different networks are becoming increasingly converged," said Yang Peifang, a research fellow with the China Academy of Telecom Research affiliated with the MII.

(China Daily 02/28/2007 page13)