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China expected to grant two new mobile licenses next year

BEIJING—Telecommunications analyst Wallace Cheung of DBS Equities Research told Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post he expects China’s Ministry of Information Industry (MII) to grant two new second-generation (2G) mobile-phone licenses in the second half of next year, when the ministry will also issue third-generation (3G) licenses.
At present, China has two mobile-phone operators, China Mobile and China Unicom. On the one hand, MII wants to increase competition in the sector, but on the other hand, it wants to avoid a potentially crippling price war, which could hamper the operators’ abilities to invest and expand the networks. China is expected to issue 3G licenses for a nominal fee.
China’s dominant fixed-line carrier, China Telecom, is expected to obtain a mobile license next year, but will face an uphill battle to dethrone the two incumbent mobile operators.

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