A whole new world opens up for consumers as China's telecommunications industry reorganization will see the issue of 3G licenses finally, a more balanced market competition, possible lower telecommunication costs and a feast of opportunities for telecom equipment makers.
And it's not just hype. The industry revamp will influence, more than expected, the push toward fixed line and mobile phone convergence which had been talked about for so long but little was done to bring it to reality, analysts said.
As early as next year, each consumer will need only one number, or user account, no matter where he is - at office, at home or in a metro train. People can choose Wi-Fi or 3G (third generation) networks to access to the Internet when going shopping.
The telecom reorganization will speed up the fixed and mobile convergence and the convergence of 3G and Wi-Fi on outdoor wireless broadband services, said Lu Guoying, an analyst at CCID Consulting.
Under FMC, consumers can buy both mobile and other telecom lines from the same vendor and have it all on one bill. For enterprises, buying voice, data network and mobile from the same carrier provides the promise of savings as a direct result of the economic leverage gained from paying a huge bill every month.
The new China Telecom (which includes China Unicom's CDMA business) will have the capacity to offer full-scale services and it will bundle fixed-line and mobile services (after the reorganization), said Wang Xiaochu, the general manager.
The new China Unicom (which includes China Netcom's fixed-line business) will be able to launch FMC services, according to Chang Xiaobing, the chairman.
The reorganization has established the bridge or laid the foundation for the fixed-line phone carriers to launch one-number-for-call services in the mobile sector. Some of China Telecom's enterprise clients have adopted the one-number-in-different-offices service.
