Ｔｅｌｅｃｏｍ Ｍａｒｋｅｔ ａｆｔｅｒ Ｒｅｓｔｒｕｃｔｕｒｉｎｇ

What happened?

A telecom-restructuring plan was announced on May 24,2008, encouraging the fixed-line operator China Telecom to buyChina Unicom's code-division multiple access (CDMA) network(both assets and subscribers).The remnants of China Unicorn,mainly its GSM network, are expected to be merged with ChinaNetcom.The fundamental telecom service of China Satcomwould be merged into the business of China Telecom; and ChinaRailcom would be merged into China Mobile.The announcementwas made in a jointly-issued statement by the Ministry of Indus-try and Information Technology, the National Development andReform Commission and the Ministry of Finance (See Chart 1).Consequently, the existing 5 telecom operators (China Mobile,China Unicom, China Telecom, China Netcom and China Rail-corn) would be transformed into three big ones with full-serviceoperation.