Private firms making inroads into telecom industry

More private enterprises have gotten involved in the State-controlled telecommunications industry, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said Monday, showing the government's determination to facilitate private investment.

"We have launched the resale of mobile telecommunications services from May this year. So far, 16 private companies have signed cooperation agreements with China Telecom, 14 private enterprises with China Unicom, and 17 private companies have agreed to cooperate with China Mobile," Miao Wei, minister of MIIT, said in a press conference in Beijing on Monday.

The resale of mobile telecommunications services means that the private operators could buy telecommunication services such as voice, data or messages from the telecommunications providers, then resell these to consumers.

Earlier reports said that those private companies could be Suning, Gome, Alibaba and jd.com, but Miao did not disclose the names of the private companies Monday.

Miao also said the first batch of licenses is to be granted at the end of the year.

"The move shows that our private companies have made substantial progress in getting involved in the telecommunications fields," Miao said.

The move is in line with the resolution of the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee held in November, acknowledging that the market should play a "decisive" role in allocating resources, which was read as a sign to further the opening for the private sector entering monopolized industries such as telecommunications.

But Miao said at the press conference that the private companies still encountered obstacles when obtaining information and were unfairly treated when engaging in military research and production.