The Wall Street Journal:
Through its reform in the past 20 years, China's telecom industry has become one of the most competitive and energetic industries in China. Can you briefly tell us what China has done to make its three major carriers more efficient and less corrupt? How did publicly listing parts of these three carriers on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange help? Thanks.
Wen Ku:
Thank you for your questions. Your questions just showed great recognition of the development of our communications industry. I would say, China's telecom industry reform is an important part of China's market economy reform. Several reforms have been carried out, such as separation of government and business, breaking up monopoly by introducing competition and taking the lead in getting listed on the stock market. The reform of China's telecom industry has never stopped and it has been successful and effective. Just as Mr. Miao said, through market competition, the communications industry as a whole has reduced its operating costs and improved operational efficiency, making the information and communication infrastructure go from extreme backwardness to become the most developed in the world. The quality of telecom services has improved, while telecom fees have declined. Eventually, consumers benefit from this.
Looking back, in 1994, China Unicom was established. It was the first time we introduced a market competition mechanism into China's basic telecommunications setor.Shortly after, the industry experienced several rounds of reform and restructuring, forming the three competitive entities of today - China Telecom, China Mobile, and China Unicom. The allocation of telecom resources has been improved. In 1997, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications incorporated the mobile services of Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces into China Telecom (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd., and made it the first to be listed on the stock market in Hong Kong. This company was later renamed China Mobile. Since then, China Unicom and China Telecom have successively been listed in the overseas stock markets. Through their listings, the three telecom operators have expanded their international vision and innovated on their business philosophy. They have introduced advanced management experience and established the modern corporate system in line with international standards, which greatly stimulated the vitality and competitiveness of the enterprises and elevated them to become ranked among the top 500 in the world. Though the reform of China's telecom industry has made great achievements, the reform will continue to advance. We will constantly seek improvement and progress, and promote the healthy development of the telecommunications market. Thank you.
