China may fine com giants billions for monopoly

BEIJING, Nov. 9 (People's Daily Online) -- China's top economic planner is investigating two Chinese telecommunications giants over a suspected monopoly in the broadband access business, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) confirmed Wednesday.

"We have generally confirmed that the China Telecom and China Unicom combined account for more than a 66 percent market share in the broadband access business," Li Qing, deputy head of the anti-monopoly bureau at the NDRC, said. "There is no doubt that the two play dominating roles in the market."

The two operators, China Telecom and China Unicom, may be fined hundreds of millions or billions of yuan if they are found monopolizing the market, China Central Television reported earlier Wednesday. (Li Zhenyu)