Now regarded as the biggest telecoms market in the world, China is relaxing restrictions for foreign investors to enter their telecoms industry. This will almost certainly be music to the ears of companies who are itching to get in on the money generated by the 1.2 billion mobile subscribers the country currently has.
The head of the telecom department at MIIT, Wen Ku announced on Tuesday that there will be 5 areas with absolutely no restrictions limiting the amount of ownership foreign companies can control, with 2 being limited to 55%. Services with no cap include apps stores, store and forward, domestic multi-party communication, call centres and home internet access. Companies hoping to operate in these areas will have to set up an office in the Shanghai Trade Free Zone but the services they offer can be spread throughout the whole country. The service areas that have restricted foreign ownership are online data and dealing analysis services.
It certainly appears as a further step towards liberalisation, as China open their doors and start to comply with the WTO. Hopefully the trend continues and this massive market can start to share more information and resources with other countries and vise-versa.
Article By Darren Kingman and Image Source