China's telecom authority received a total of 22 applications for foreign investment in the country's telecom sector by the end of April, said an official with the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) in Shanghai on Monday.

"All the applications are for value added services," said Qian Tingshuo at a symposium on information communication technology between China and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) held in Shanghai.

Seven of the applicants have been granted approval for foreign investment and operation of telecom services by MII and two have received licenses for operating telecom services, the official said.

Following China's commitment to the World Trade Organization, foreign investment could be as high as 50 percent in value added telecom services and paging service, while the percentage is 49 in mobile and data services and 25 in basic telecom services.

In recent years, China's telecom sector has become more open to foreign investment. The government encouraged foreign companies to establish foreign invested telecom companies by acquiring domestic companies and it also allowed established joint ventures to apply operating telecom services, said Qian.

The two foreign invested companies who have received licenses for operating telecom services in China are UNISK (Beijing) Information Technology Co Ltd, jointly set up by SK from the Republic of Korea and China Unicom, and Honglian 95 under China Trust 21st Century.

China has over 11,000 operators of value added telecom service operators and a value added service is the priority area in the opening up of China's telecom sector.