Telecom and Unicom suspected of monopoly

Updated: 2011-11-09 17:28

(chinadaily.com.cn)

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The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) is investigating China Telecom and China Unicom as the two telecommunication enterprises are suspected of monopolizing the domestic market, CCTV reported.

Li Qing, the vice head of the bureau of price monitoring and anti-monopolization at NDRC, said they began the investigation in the first half of 2011.

"More than two-thirds of the market's businesses belong to Telecom and Unicom, so there is no doubt that they can dominate the whole market. They ask higher interconnection prices for their competitors," Li said.

Telecom and Unicom networks' connections cannot reach the national standard, as the delay and packets loss rate are higher.

According to a blue book from the Advisory Committee of State Informatization, the average Internet speed in China is ranked 71 in the world but the fee is three or four times developed countries.

Li Qing said if the monopoly is proved to be true, the two enterprises will be fined 1 to 10 percent of their annual turnover, which is 50 billion yuan ($7.73 billion) for China Telecom, and a little less than 30 billion yuan for China Unicom.