New policies to develop the Internet industry have been outlined by the Chinese government, according to senior officials at the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) Tuesday.
"We will strive to maintain a high speed of growth in the Internet industry, which will help make it a backbone in the national economy over the next five years,'' said Zhang Chunjiang, a vice-minister of the MII at the China Internet Conference and Exhibition 2001 (China Inet 2001) held in Beijing between July 10 and 12.
According to statistics from the MII, China's Internet users increased from 16.9 million in June 2000 to 26 million by March 2001. Computers with connections to the Internet also grew from last June's 6.5 million units to 9.8 million units in April 2001. There were more than 620 Internet service providers (ISPs) and 1,600 Internet content providers (ICPs) by the end of 2000.
Zhang pointed out that to achieve a steady growth, integration of telecommunications, cable and computer networks and the development of Internet-based value-added services would become two major tasks for China's Internet industry in the coming five years.
"The integration of three networks has been written into the outline of the 10th Five-Year (2001-05) Plan and it will greatly facilitate the development of the Internet industry,'' Zhang said.
The inter-connection between telecommunications and computer networks has become a reality and that between cable TV and telecommunications networks will become the focus of the reform, he said.
According to the ministry, cable TV operators will be able to run telecommunications services and telecommunications providers like China Telecom and China Unicom can also transmit cable TV programs with their networks.
"We should approve the cross-operations of the two networks under equal conditions and the last mile will be to break the monopoly in telecommunications and cable TV sectors,'' Zhang said.
China's cable TV network, which has more than 100 million family subscribers, has built a nationwide broadband network and has been desperate for a license to run Internet connection services and to provide content including video on demand (VOD).
The ministry will also encourage Internet-based value-added providers to offer more and better services.
"As more and more infrastructure facilities are built, the importance of giving more value-added services is being highlighted,'' Zhang said.
Internet-based software and the development of Internet information and Internet connection for special users will be among the major value-added services.
"Most such operators are small and medium enterprises and their involvement will promote technological innovations, increase investment in the Internet industry and create jobs, so their development will be very helpful to the whole information industry,'' Zhang added.
According to Su Jinshui, director-general of the Telecommunications Administration Bureau with the MII, the ministry will also issue a regulation to set the lowest service standard for Internet value-added services providers to guarantee the benefits of users.
The ministry also required telecommunications operators to run trial operations of broadband networks in 13 cities, which will provide high speed connections and rich content with more bandwidth.
The regulation also forbids competitors to build networks outside the selected 13 cities to avoid a redundant investment in the broadband network construction and vicious competition in other parts of the country.
Officials of the ministry are also thinking about allocating more investment to help the backward interior regions to develop the Internet there by transferring revenue from the developed regions to inland areas.
(China Daily 07/11/2001)
