No.377 June 12, 2009
Special Issues  
USITO Hosts Roundtable with MIIT Official on Chinese ICT Stimulus Plan
Last Call: Farewell Party for Embassy Offcials, June 12th
 

On June 9th, USITO hosted a roundtable discussion event with Dr. Yang Xushan from the Electronics Dept of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). Dr. Yang briefed USITO members the rationale, status quo and prospects for China's gov't stimulus plan for the ICT industries, followed by heated Q&As. USITO President Dr. Chiang also introduced the U.S. stimulus bills. Members click here to login the download page for a Chinese Language report on China's ICT stimulus Plan.

Top Story

MIIT Mandates Pre-installation of Green Dam Software in Commercial PCs

On May 22nd, 2009, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) issued a circular titled ¡°Notice Concerning the Computer Pre-Installation of Green Internet Filter Software¡±, which mandates that from July 1st, 2009 on, personal computers sold in China must be pre-installed with the ¡° Green Dam ¨C Escort of the Youth Flowers ¡±, a ¡°green Internet filtering software¡± that is allegedly able to block ¡°unhealthy Internet content¡± such as pornography and violence. A 5/14/2009 MIIT statement says that the ministry has spent RMB 41.7 million (USD 6.1 million) to buy the ¡°usage rights for one year¡± of the Green Dam from two domestic developers: the Zhengzhou- based Jinhui Computer System Engineering Co., and the Beijing-based Dazheng Human Language Technology Academy Co.; and that the purchase process has strictly observed the ¡°Government Procurement procedures¡±.

The issue was first exposed by the Wall Street Journal on June 8, which soon triggered a ripple effect with most local media outlets reporting on the issue in the following days. Chinese netizens swarmed on to online bulletin boards and posted uncountable complaints and protests, as a sina.com survey states that 85% of interviewees said they will never consider installing the software. tech.sina.com.cn, 6/10/2009

USITO Notes: USITO has prepared an issue report for our members, please click here to download. We will continue to track the issue and report back to our members on related development. China is home to the world's largest Internet population of over 250 million, which poses a bigger challenge for the government to administrate the cyber space. Since the kickoff of the anti-vulgarity campaign in early January, more than 1,900 websites have been shut down, and websites such as Google, baidu and sina, were regularly alerted or revised for ¡°discipline¡±. It is necessary to protect the kids from malicious information and make Internet a more orderly space, but the scale, effectiveness and methodologies need to be carefully taken into account when formulating such policies. You are welcome to contact us if you have any related information or questions.

 

- Member Access Only -


USITO Issue Paper No.632 -

The Mandatory Green Dam Software

June 10, 2009


Carriers Poised to Launch Their Own Mobile Operating Systems

According to a 6/10/2009 report in the South Metropolis Daily, Mr. Zhao Bo, Deputy Director General of MIIT's Electronics Department, told media that two of China's three mobile carriers have developed their own mobile phone operating systems: China Mobile now boasts a "perfect" Ophone system and China Unicom has built the UniPlus platform and will launch UPhone soon.

It is said that the OPhone is now under tests and scheduled to hit the market in the second half of the year. It is powered by OMS, a homegrown technology developed by China Mobile. It is based on google's Android system and carries a string of China Mobile applications. China Mobile unveiled the OMS mobile phones last year, saying it will help build a platform to accommodate various applications of different operators. The Uphone of China Unicom is also based on the open platform Android. MIIT sources said Unicom will launch a prototype Uphone handset to the market this month.

USITO Notes: Both companies' strategy for having their own operating system reflects their ambition of claiming more control over the value added service sector of mobile phones. The 3G era is differentiated with the more abundant content services, the key growth point for the carriers' business in the next few years. Hence, carriers take it as a critical strategy to build a manageable ecosystem from the very beginning. Unlike the U.S. market, the home to most innovative mobile phone terminals, Chinese mobile phone makers keep focusing on low-end or even copycat phones, which put them in an obedient and subordinate position during negotiations with the carriers. Statistics show that Chinese mobile phone makers spend no more than one per cent of their revenue on R&D for operating systems, and no one ever places any focus on garnering more profit beyond selling the handsets.

Member in the News: Qualcomm and Freescale on Smartbooks

According to a BusinessWeek report, Qualcomm and Freescale Semiconductor are hoping that a netbook by another name smells as sweet. Qualcomm defines smartbooks as mobile computing devices that boast screens of 5 to 12 inches, designed for viewing Web video clips and e-mail. If that sounds a lot like netbooks, it should. These low-priced mini laptops have emerged as the PC industry's best sellers in the past year. Detail

Shanghai Authority Rules Installation of Software in Schools

According to a 6/12/2009 Shanghai Daily report, the Shanghai Education Commission has ordered local schools to equip computers used by students on campus with the "Green Dam Youth Escort" software to protect them from pornographic pictures or text online, officials said yesterday. Detail

TD to Take 20% of 3G Market by 2020

The Chinese government wants the TD-SCDMA to gain a 20 percent share of the overseas 3G market by user number by 2020. Detail

Selected Chinese Media Reports

Regulations

MIIT Urges Interconnection of Dedicated & Public Network

At the 2009 Symposium on Cities Integrated Emergency Communications, Han Jun, Vice Director-general of the Department of Science and Technology of MIIT pointed out that the integrated emergency communication system should be configured to enable the interconnection of the dedicated network and public network. According to Han, the work of integrated emergency communication has been imperative, concerted efforts should be made to accelerate the smooth implementation of the cities integrated emergency communication work, and the interconnection of the dedicated network and public network is especially important in this regard. Chinese Text

3G Mobile Communications

China Mobile Promotes TD Fixed Phone Services

China Mobile is deploying its wireless fixed phone services nationwide with a low profile. To facilitate the services deployment, China Mobile introduced an offer of ¡° low rates and no monthly rental ¡± . The most important intention of China Mobile is to complement its fixed network services, and promote the development of fixed-mobile converged services. An expert commented that wireless fixed phone service, as a FMC service offering, is effectively complementary to the TD deployment. Chinese Text

China Unicom to Unify 3G Tariff

China Unicom said flat 3G rates will be charged nationwide and no branches are allowed to decide on rates at will. Currently, China Unicom has begun to sell some 3G numbers to subscribers in first 55 pilot cities for trials, and the other 229 cities will follow suit by the end of September. The trial period will conclude by the end of this year, and then 3G numbers will be widely distributed in the above 284 cities. One of the problems with 3G services now is that 3G service packages introduced by telecom carriers are too many, and some of them are money-eaters due to obscure service rates. Chinese Text

China Unicom Plans to Invest RMB 40b in Henan

China Unicom announced it plans to invest RMB 40b in Henan , for purpose of 3G and broadband network deployment. The deal, which is said to be China Unicom ' s largest provincial investment plan, was signed with the provincial government of Henan on June 10. Under the agreement, the RMB 40b will be invested in Henan in the next 5 years, for improving information & communication infrastructures, including 3G deployment, broadband network expansion, network performance improvement and network structure optimization. Chinese Text

ZTE Signs WCDMA Deal with Viettel

ZTE announced that it signed a WCDMA deal with Vietnam 's top telecom carrier Viettel, making ZTE the first WCDMA contractor of Viettel. Sources said that before the signing of this contract, Viettel has conducted tests for ZTE's WCDMA networks, and the test results exceeded the customer expectations. The tests demonstrated ZTE's advantage in SDR-based full IP platform technology. Qian Qiang, ZTE's General Manager in Southeast Asia region, stressed that the initial application of SDR platform in Vietnam demonstrated the leadership of ZTE's SDR platform again, and has laid solid foundation for long term partnership with Viettel. Chinese Text

Trade and Investment

Huawei: Open-minded to Partnering with ITI

Huawei said on Wednesday that it is open-minded to entering into cooperation with ITI, India 's state-owned telecom equipment vendor. Several days ago, ITI invited initial bids from those tending to acquire stakes of three of its six factories. Huawei said in an email announcement that Huawei India has built close ties with ITI. The bid invitation documents posted in ITI' s website showed that ITI is planning to invite local or global telecom equipment vendors to submit bids for the stakes of the above three factories, to set up three joint ventures. Chinese Text

China Science & Technology Development Roadmap 2050 Released

A series report titled ¡°Innovation 2050: Science & Technology and China 's Future¡± was released in Beijing on June 11. It is also called ¡°China Science & Technology Development Roadmap to 2050¡± . The roadmap was intended to point out the correct ways for China 's key science and technologies research activities in various fields and industries. This roadmap brought about major concerns hindering the development of China 's science and technology, and proposed solutions. Chinese Text

 

Software

MIIT Minister: Software Industry Grows Fastest

Int'l Soft China 2009 opened in Beijing on June 11, MIIT Minister Li Yizhong attended the opening ceremony and made a speech. He said the software industry is now the fastest growing industry during the financial crisis. Since the year 2000, the industry has registered an annual average growth of 38%, and still maintains a growth of 29.8% despite financial crisis. According to Li, the high-speed growth of the software industry is due largely to increasing application of software in industries, which leads to IT upgrading of traditional industries. Chinese Text

Chinese Software Giants on the Rise

Li Yizhong, Minister of Industry and Information Technology, said at Int'l Soft China 2009 that 984 Chinese software enterprises have exceeded an annual sales of RMB 100m . Since the beginning of the 21 st Century, the software industry has grown rapidly, and posted an annual average growth of 38%. In 2008, software exports reached USD 14.2b, 35 times the number of the year 2000; 984 enterprises achieved software sales of over RMB 100m . The expo was sponsored by NDRC, MIIT and the municipal government of Beijing . Chinese Text

MOST Announces Three Measures to Promote Software Development

MOST Vice Minister Du Zhanyuan, when making a speech at the opening ceremony of Int'l Soft China 2009, announced three measures to be taken to accelerate the development of the software industry. They are: 1) Strengthen science & technology innovation, and make breakthrough in critical technologies; 2) Strengthen innovations in applications & services, and widen space for development of the software industry; and 3) Further adjust policies to optimize the development environment of software and information service industries. Chinese Text

Kingdee Merges Nanjing Tongmeng

Kingdee International Software Group announced that it has acquired Nanjing Tongmeng Software System Co., Ltd, a supplier of the finance & tax integrated software products. This was Kingdee's third acquisition in the first half of 2009. Sources said that Nanjing Tongmeng is a finance & tax software products supplier, having more than ten years experience in developing finance & tax system and providing services. Kingdee Chairman Xu Shaochun said the acquisition of Nanjing Tongmeng reflects Kingdee's aggressive capital market strategy. Chinese Text

Semiconductor

SARFT: CMMB Industry Alliance to Be Founded

To accelerate the development of CMMB industry, the CMMB working group of SARFT is planning the establishment of CMMB Industry Alliance. A working group official told CBN that the group is currently negotiating with holders of the CMMB patents to form the CMMB industry alliance, and will follow international practices to set up a CMMB patent pool and announce the license policies of the patent pool. Now more than 200 Chinese and foreign enterprises are working on CMMB, and will be members of the alliance. Chinese Text

Taiwan Enterprises Encouraged to Join Home Appliances Trade-in Initiative

The spokeswoman of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council at the routine press conference on June 10 said Chinese mainland authorities encourage Taiwan enterprises to study the needs of the mainland market, and play an active part in the household electrical appliances trade-in program launched in the mainland. She promised that Taiwan enterprises will be equally treated. The spokeswoman also said that 2 Taiwan enterprises have been chosen during the public bidding procedures to sell laptops to farmers. Taiwan enterprises are also welcome to attend the future public bidding procedures. Chinese Text

USD 200m LED Project Launched in Xi'an

An LED Project with a total investment of USD 200m was launched in Xi'an High-tech Development zone on June 11, by Xi'an Walsin United Technology Corporation wholly owned by Taiwan Walsin Lihwa Co. Sources said that the completion of this project will lead to framing of China's first high power LED epitaxial slice and chip manufacturing base. The phase 1 investment will be USD 55m , and is expected to generate an operating revenue of USD 200m after starting full operation. The project will stimulate the development of the LED industry in Shanxi . Chinese Text

USITO selected and translated the news summaries above. If you are interested in learning more details about the above Chinese language links, you are welcome to contact us (wenjie@usito.org) to sponsor the translation of that report.

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