Ministry of Information Industry, Administration of Telecommunications Business Permits Measures

Promulgated: December 26 2001
Effective: January 1 2002
Applicability: These Measures apply to the application for, examination and approval of, as well as the administration of, telecommunications business permits in the PRC (Article 2).

Main contents: Under the Measures, there are three types of telecommunications business permits: Basic Telecommunications Business Permits, Cross-region Value-added Telecommunications Business Permits and Value-added Telecommunications Business Permits. The first two are approved by the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) and the third type is approved by the telecommunications bureau of the relevant province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the central government. If the applicant is a foreign-funded telecommunications enterprise, approval is to be made by MII in accordance with the Administration of Foreign-funded Telecommunications Enterprises Provisions (Article 9). A basic telecommunications business permit applicant shall have a minimum registered capital of Rmb200 million if it operates within a province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the central government, or Rmb2 billion if it operates cross-regionally or nationwide, and in either case it shall have a three-year compliance record (Article 5). For a value-added telecommunications business permit applicant, the registered capital requirement is lowered to Rmb1 million (single province) and Rmb10 million (cross-provincial service) (Article 6). If a radio telecommunications business will be involved, assurance of availability of radio frequency resources shall be obtained from the national or provincial radio administrative authority (Articles 7 & 8). The Measures set out detailed provisions on the use, change, cancellation and annual review of telecommunications business permits (Parts Four, Five and Six). The Measures also attach the texts of Basic Telecommunications Business Permits and Value-added Telecommunications Business Permits and their attachments, including Use of Telecommunications Business Permits Provisions and The Rights and Obligations of Telecommunications Business Operators.
Related legislation: PRC, Telecommunications Regulations, Sep 25 2000, CLP 2000 No.9 p28