Monopoly Ends, Duopoly Begins

Baker & McKenzie

After considerable speculation on the possible break-up of China Telecommunications Corporation's (China Telecom) monopoly on fixed line services, the State Council finally approved a plan to reform China's telecommunications industry. On May 16 2002, China Telecom was split into two competing companies, China Telecom and China Netcom Group. China now has six companies capable of providing basic telecom services: China Telecom; China Netcom; China Unicom; China Mobile; China Railcom; and China Satellite Communications.