China Mobile Faces Ma-Bell-Like Regulations

The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend that the Chinese government plans to combine six state-owned carriers into three companies that will sell fixed-line and wireless services throughout the country.

The move will create two rivals to China Mobile, which the WSJ said is the largest mobile operator in the world by subscribers.

China Mobile appears to be looking at a Ma Bell-type of situation. It’s used to being the only game in town; but now it looks like the government will impose regulations to ensure competition, much as the United States did in 1996.

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information, Ministry of Finance, and National Development and Reform Commission said on Saturday China will adopt “asymmetrical regulations” to achieve a balanced industry structure, WSJ said. Government officials didn’t specify what those regulations will be, but pundits interpreted the term as favoring smaller operators.

Share this article: Email, Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Yahoo!MyWeb, Windows Live Favorites, Furl
Add this article feed to: RSS, My Yahoo, Newsgator, Bloglines