China Shuffles Telecoms, Opening Opportunities

China unveiled plans for a long-awaited shake-up of its telecommunications sector that could enhance competition among its carriers and lead to billions of dollars in new contracts for global wireless-equipment companies. The restructuring, announced Saturday after years of preparation, will reshape China's telecom industry, one of the world's most lucrative with total revenue last year of 728 billion yuan ($104.9 billion). It will meld six main state-owned telecom companies into three full-service carriers offering fixed-line and wireless service nationwide. That will mean two more robust rivals for China Mobile Ltd., the world's biggest wireless carrier, with about 400 million subscriber accounts, which dominates its sole competitor. The plan was announced in a statement from three ministries posted on a government Web site. It gave no timetable for execution, saying only that the companies should "as quickly as possible" report detailed arrangements for carrying out the plan.
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