BEIJING—China’s Minister of Information Industry Wu Jichuan confirmed plans to split fixed-line carrier China Telecom into northern and southern parts, but denied that new mobile licenses would be issued related to the restructuring.
The northern split-off of China Telecom will merge with China Netcom and Jitong and cover 10 provinces. The southern part will serve 20 provinces. Market analysts had expected one or both of the reorganized companies to receive a mobile-phone license.
