China plans to merge three major networks, namely Internet,
telecommunication network and broadcasting network into one in the
five years, said a telecommunications expert?in
Beijing?Tuesday.
The merger of three networks has been included into the 11th
Five-Year Guidelines (2006-2010), which is still in the making,
said Song Junde, professor at Peking University's
School of Post and Telecommunications, at a forum on
telecommunication networks.
However, with the broadcasting network under one supervisor and
the other two under another, their integration is expected to
receive resistance from vested-interests.
As proposed in the five-year guidelines, China is to enhance the
construction of its broadband, digital television and next
generation internet, so as to achieve their merger in the future,
said Song.
The merger, Song said, will optimize the structure of China's
telecommunications industry and facilitate the upgrading and reform
of the networks.
The prospect of a network merger has boosted the network-related
market. Statistics with the China Center for Information Industry
Development show that China's network equipment market reached
22.77 billion yuan (about US$2.84 billion) last year, up 33.1
percent over the previous year.
(Xinhua News Agency November 30, 2005)