Wider Internet choices

All residents in the newer parts of Shanghai now have a wider choice of broadband service from nine providers, compared with only one or two in past years, thanks to a local policy to encourage competition among telecommunications operators.

But for most residents in the older communities, including downtown, broadband choices remain limited because introducing new operators and upgrading network infrastructure is expensive.

Since November, all nine operators providing broadband service in Shanghai have been allowed to provide services to residents in the newly built communities in a "fair and transparent" environment, according to the latest policy issued by local bureaus that regulate technology businesses.

The residents of older communities, however, don't have more choice now. But to provide better service, top operators including China Telecom and China Unicom have lifted broadband speed by five to 10 times for free in many communities in Shanghai. Starting from this month, many local China Telecom users can have Internet speed of 10 to 30 megabits per second, 5 to 15 times the previous level. The network upgrade in most communities will finish by the end of December, according to China Telecom's Shanghai branch.

China Unicom launched a similar upgrade around the city in November.