TELECOM RESTRUCTURING HAMMERED OUT AFTER THOUSANDS OF CALLS FOR IT

On May 23, the three ministries jointly announced a plan showing that China Tie Tong and China Unicom will be merged with China Netcom, China Wei Tong's basic telecommunications business will be incorporated into China Telecom, and China Tie Tong will be incorporated into China Mobile. The announcement of this notice marks another major reform in the history of the telecommunications industry, breaking the existing situation dominated by China Mobile and China Telecom, and moving towards a tripartite situation of China Mobile, China Telecom, and New China Unicom. The upcoming issuance of 3G licenses will also affect the entire telecommunications industry.