BEIJING—China is set to establish a new high-level commission to formulate long-term development plans for the telecommunications sector. The commission would include Vice President Hu Jintao, Vice Premier Li Lanqing and Minister of Information Industry Wu Jichuan.
The initiative would take power away from the Ministry of Information Industry (MII), while another commission to be headed by Zeng Peiyan, minister of the State Development Planning Commission, would be responsible for implementation of the policies.
The aim is to promote competition in the sector as the MII has been prone to favor China Telecom and China Mobile, operators that previously belonged to its Directorate General of Telecommunications. Operators controlled by other ministries, such as China Unicom and Railcom, received the cold shoulder from MII, leading to difficulties and delays in interconnecting their networks.
