War kicks off in landline phone market
5/9/2003 15:05
The China Netcom's Shanghai branch announced on September 1 to tap the
local landline phone market, targeting corporate clients and some new
residential quarters, indicating that the head-on fight between the China Netcom
and China Telecom has kicked off, the Beijing Youth Post reported today.
When
China Netcom enters the Shanghai fixed-line phone market, the China Telecom, the
nation's largest fixed-line phone operator, is struggling to claim more market
in Beijing, a core market dubbed by China Netcom.
The local call rates
charged by the Shanghai Netcom are higher than that by the Shanghai Telecom.
Shanghai Netcom charges 35 yuan (US$4.2) in monthly rental, 0.22 yuan per
minute in the first three minutes of a local call, and 0.11 yuan of an
additional minute. Shanghai Telecom charges 25 yuan in monthly rental, 0.2 yuan
per minute in the first three minutes, and 0.11 yuan of an additional minute.
Shanghai Telecom has boasted seven million fixed-line phone users and
densely-covered landline network in the city, while Shanghai Netcom's fixed-line
network has covered several hundred high-end office buildings and residential
quarters.
China Telecom' s Beijing branch is speeding up its penetration
into the Beijing market, with more than one million fixed-line phone users
there. "We have several hundred thousand contracts now, mainly clients in new
residential quarters and large enterprises," said the spokesman with the Beijing
Telecom.
Beijing Telecom has boasted three telephone bureaus in the city to
date, with the fourth prepared to establish to pave a way for the local
fixed-line network expansion, the spokesman said.
Two landline phone
operators in a city can break monopoly and lead to a real competition, said an
expert.
Wendy Zhang/ Shanghai Daily news
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