China moves towards three 3G-licences

The end for China Unicom
by 2 dogs via FlickrMore details are emerging on the reform of China's telecom industry, after yesterday's first moves. As expected a consolidation is taking place as the country is going to issue three 3G licenses, opening the floor for more competition for quasi-monopolist China Mobile. Reuters has a follow-up:

China will issue three licenses for high-speed third-generation mobile phone services and called for a merger of China Unicom <0762.hk> and Netcom <0906.hk>, two of its four big telecoms providers, in a long-awaited industry revamp.

The government said on Saturday it would also call on China Telecom <0728.hk>, the country's biggest fixed-line telecoms carrier, to purchase wireless telecoms company Unicom's CDMA network, fleshing out details of the restructuring following an initial announcement on Friday.

The importance of these moves is that it will unlock billions (in renmninbi, euros and US-dollars) of capital that was already expected by the industry for years. The decision making process has been even for Chinese standards a pretty murky one and most likely powerfull China Mobile has been trying to delay the eroding of its quasi-monopoly in mobile communication in China.