China Unicom to Provide Long-distance Alternative
China unicom is expected to begin offering its
long-awaited long-distance phone service both domestically and internationally later this
year, Business Weekly reported On October 17.
"By the end of this year, we will provide
long-distance phone services in the country's more than 20 cities, both domestically and
internationally," Tan Xinghui, general manager of planning and marketing with China
Unicom, said.
The business expansion, if implemented as envisioned,
will eventually make China Unicom a major force in the telecom services sector.
China Unicom is expected to benefit from the split up
of the China Telecom monopoly into three independent operations including mobile phones,
fixed phones and satellite services later this year.
China Unicom currently operates paging, mobile phone,
Internet access, IP (Internet Protocol) phone and limited local fixed-phone services.
Chinese customers will have to remember two sets of
regional codes with the new service. They have become used to dialing only one phone code
during past decades.
China Unicom is authorized to conduct local fixed-phone
business in Tianjin, Chongqing and Sichuan only.
"We will mainly rely on China Telecom's
fixed-phone network to provide long-distance services," said Tan.
Since China Telecom, which controls the fundamental
fixed-phone network, is reluctant to co-operate with China Unicom, the company has faced
great difficulties in developing inter-connections across the country.
Tan said China Unicom plans to lease part of mobile
capacity from China Mobile Communication Corp, the most profitable arm separating from
China Telecom.
"We are in negotiation and it will benefit the two
sides since some of China Mobile's network capacity is idle," said Tan.
The company's Internet business will also begin later
this year.
Tan said a key plan involves co-operating with Internet
service and content providers. (Xinhua)
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