BEIJING-China’s fixed-line operators have received approval from the all-powerful Ministry of Information Industry (MII) to roll out the “Little Smart” or “Xiaolingtong” PHS service nationwide.
Until now the service was restricted to small and medium-sized cities or areas in the interior of China; the major cities of Beijing and Shanghai were off limits. But 10 March, the first 100 Xiaolingtong subscribers tested the service in Huairou County on the outskirts of Beijing.
Outgoing MII Minister Wu Jichuan commented on the sidelines of the ongoing National People’s Congress (NPC) session that “the government does not encourage its development, but it will not regulate Little Smart’s progressive march into cities.”
Most of the Little Smart equipment is supplied by U.S.-based UTStarcom. The company announced 11 March it had signed contracts worth US$50 million with China Netcom to build and expand the Xiaolingtong system in several northern cities.
China Netcom’s Beijing subsidiary announced the service would be expanded into the city’s 10 suburbs 20 March, but would not be immediately available in the downtown areas. Analysts expect the service to be available all over the city within months.
The announcement of Little Smart’s availability in Beijing pushed down China Mobile’s share price to the lowest level since April 1999. The growing popularity of Little Smart could lead to mobile carriers China Mobile and China Unicom scrapping two-way charging.
