Will CBN's entrance into the game affect China Unicom and other big telco players? (Photo : Reuters)
China's three biggest telecommunication companies are about to face a fourth contender with state-owned CBN receiving the green light from the MIIT to compete against existing major telcos.
According to Tech in Asia, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) "issued" CBN a telecom operator license on April 20, Wednesday, giving the company a legal permission to clash with the big three.
On its Weibo account, the MIIT confirmed that CBN had submitted an application on March 7.
The basic license CBN applied for is a domestic Internet data transmission license, which includes a telecommunications infrastructure, reported People's Daily Online.
The license, however, will only be used to boost CBN's broadband TV plans. This means that there is not so much to expect when it comes to mobile phone services.
Tech in Asia speculates that MIIT's green light might be a move by the State Administration for Press, Publications, Radio, Film, and Television (SAPPRFT) to get some of [the] power back by getting China's internet users to watch "broadband television" rather than video streaming services that arguably fall under the regulatory control of other offices.
The tech website said that the SAPPFRT "has been struggling to exert more control over the Web."
Hence, granting a license to a fourth player could prompt users to switch back to traditional platforms such as print and TV, where the agency wields power.
Meanwhile, analyst Fu Liang said in a report by People's Daily Online that CBN might already be late to the party because the industry's big three competitors "have made huge investments in their networks and acquired large number of users."
Gartner's Peter Liu somehow echoed this statement in a China Daily report, saying that CBN "will not shock the current carriers and change the competition situation in domestic market in the short term."
At present, China's telecommunications landscape is dominated by three players, namely, China Unicom, China Telecom and China Mobile.
