New Telecom Giant to Be Set up

China will set up its seventh telecom carrier, China Telecommunications Satellite Group Corporation, at the end of this year. The Corporation, using satellites to transmit calls and messages, will consist of a number of satellite-based telecom companies such as China Telecommunications Broadcast Satellite Corporation and ChinaSat of China Telecom (Hong Kong).

According to the Ministry of Information Industry, top leaders of China Telecommunications Satellite Group Corporation had been appointed and Zhou Zehe, the present head of ChinaSat, assumed the post of general manager.

The new company has gained a licence to provide Internet access and telephony services on the web, expanding its business coverage.

The new corporation will be one of seven telecommunications operators in China. The launch of the company is part of the industry reorganization of China's telecom sector when the seven basic telecom carriers are to be reorganized into six.

  • Background sources of key telecom companies in China:


    • China Telecommunications (Group) Co. and the China Mobile Telecommunications (Group) Co. are the two giant groups established at the same time on April 20. The registered capital of China Telecommunications (Group) Co. and the China Mobile Telecommunications (Group) Co. is 220 billion yuan and 51.8 billion yuan, respectively, both ranking among the country's State-owned extra-large companies. The two companies operate independently.

    China Unicom was founded on July 19, 1994. It is the second largest telecommunication operator in China. It has set up subsidiaries and branches in 30 province, autonomous regions and municipalities across China. On June 21 and 22, 2000, China Unicom got listed in New York Stock Exchange and Hong Kong.

    China Railway Telecom (CRT) was founded on December 26, 2000. The total assets of the company reach 13.6 billion yuan and the registered assets hit 10.3 billion yuan. It has 16 shareholders. China Ministry of Railways holds 51 percent of the stocks. The company has 69,000 employees.






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