No.412 February 26, 2010
USITO Policy Working Group Priorities Q1, 2010
Members Click for Details (email to ftzhang@usito.org if any login problems)
Environment & Energy Efficiency Working Group
Standards & Conformity
Working Group
Trade & Investment
Working Group
Cyber Security
Working Group
Top Story

Broadcast Authority Calls Off Local Telecom IPTV Operations

According to local media report, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), China's top broadcasting authority, has ruled to immediately stop the Internet protocol television (IPTV) services provided by Guangxi Telecom, a provincial subsidiary of China Telecom.

In a public notice, SARFT stated that the IPTV program operated by Guangxi Telecom was illegal since it never applied licenses from the broadcasting authorities. SARFT also asked the content providers, like Shanghai Media Group, to stop providing programs to the company. Reports said Guangxi Telecom officially launched IPTV services in early February 2010, since then the business has quickly expanded to 14 cities within Guangxi and the company has developed thousands of subscribers after less than a month operation. It is said that the Guangxi branch of SARFT once alerted Guangxi Telecom for its illegal operation but it turned out to be ineffective, so the branch reported to SARFT for arbitration.

SARFT reiterated in its public notice that all telecom carriers shall take into account the licensing requirement when launching IPTV services. Any unlicensed operations by telecom carriers in the IPTV sector will be deemed illegal and thus be halted or punished.

As covered in USITO weekly January 22 edition, in an executive meeting of the State Council on 1/13/2010, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao called for acceleration of the integration of three communications networks (telecommunications, TV/radio, Internet). The meeting was followed by an official statement published in top Chinese media, and began serving as the authoritative directive guiding the development of China's communication networks. The statement says connecting the three networks will boost the development of the information and cultural sectors, and identifies two phases for undertaking the convergence work: (1) to carry out pilot projects connecting the three networks in 2010-2012, (2) to build on successful experience and fully implement the convergence plan in 2013-2015. tech.sina.com.cn, 2/23/2010

USITO Notes: By punishing Guangxi Telecom, SARFT again alerted the telecom sector not to covet the broadcast business. In USITO issue paper No.636 analyzing the convergence issue (download), we pointed out that the January directive of the State Council can be interpreted as good news for the broadcasting sector, since companies in the sector will be able to offer more services. However, the new directive does not grant telecom carriers any power to control content, carriers still have to work with and report to broadcasting authorities on content-related matters. The timetable for full integration would thus remain indefinite in the near future if such kind of turf battle between the industry authorities continues. Thus a unified regulator is a key element in implementing the initiative, but there is yet any timetable in establishing such regulator.

The website of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) says that four licenses must be obtained in order to operate IPTV business in China: IPTV license to transmit video/TV programs via Internet (granted by SARFT); ICP (Internet content provider) license (granted by MIIT); mobile value-added service provider license (granted by MIIT); and the Internet culture business license (granted by the Ministry of Culture). In addition, local telecom operators are only allowed to offer IPTV in cooperation with national IPTV license holders.
Selected Chinese Media Reports
 

Regulations

MIIT: Individuals Again Allowed to Open Websites

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has distributed to local communication administrations a circular titled Provisional Plan for Further Implementation of Website Registration Information Verification, calling for more efforts to ensure the genuineness of website registration information. According to the circular, both organizations and individuals can open a website. It also provided a work flow for the examination and verification of website registration information. Local communication administrations are required to examine and verify the registration information accepted within 20 workdays. Access service providers must not disclose any information of website owners. Chinese Text

Trade & Investment

State Council: Move Electronic Information Industries Westward

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao presided over an executive meeting of the State Council on February 24, deliberating how to further implement the key industries adjustment and invigoration plans. It was agreed at the executive meeting that focusing on the restructuring and transformation of growth mode, we must carry out the industries adjustment and invigoration plans in an overall manner with a view to making significant progress in boosting the quality and benefits of industry development. To this end, six measures have been proposed, including, accelerate the transfer of electronic information industry to mid- and west China regions; promote the merger and reorganization of enterprises and enhance the concentration of industries and competitiveness of enterprises; and strengthen technological upgrading in key sectors and critical links, optimize traditional industries and lay solid foundation for the development of strategic emerging industries. Chinese Text 

United Nations: China Becomes Second Largest E-WASTE Maker

According to a foreign media report, a survey, released on Monday, of the United States shows that e-wastes generated in developing countries will increase dramatically in the next ten years, and China has become the second largest e-wastes maker, generating 2.3 million tons each year, and also the place receiving e-wastes from most of developed countries. The report, released by the United Nations Environment Programme, predicted that by 2020, e-wastes generated by discarding of computers in China and South Asia will be four times that of 2007. According to Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the Environment Programme, this report highlights again the urgency of building large efficient facilities in an official and structured way to collect e-wastes in China. Chinese Text

Chinese Enterprise Wins Technology Prize

The 2010 Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona, Spain announced winners of the year¡¯s Global Mobile Awards. China¡¯s Huawei Technologies was awarded the Best Service Delivery Platform Prize, which comes under the category of Best Technology Awards, the only Chinese enterprise winning such honor. Huawei Software Vice President Huang Ji called winning the prize a milestone for Huawei, saying that Huawei¡¯s service delivery platform is a good tool designed to help telecom operators increase operations income. The 2010 Mobile World Congress opened on February 15-18, and 1300 companies attended this congress. Chinese Text

3G Mobile Communications

China Telecom to Buy 3G Mid-end Handsets

On February 22, 2010, China Telecom in alliance with 13 agents held a conference announcing the public offering of a Request for Proposal for joint procurement of mid-range 3G handsets. This is another important procurement of mobile terminal launched by China Telecom following the procurement of low-cost handsets and customization of smart handsets. With prices ranging from RMB700 to 2000, mid-end 3G handsets are designed to satisfy the requirements of most of handset users for handset looks and Internet access functions. According to an official of China Telecom in charge of terminal management, in 2010 China Telecom will shift its focus to mid-range handsets, which account for an absolute majority in this procurement activity. According to China Telecom¡¯s plan, 5 million units will be bought. Chinese Text

First TD-LTE Demonstration Network Constructed in Shanghai

Motorola announced on February 25 that it has completed the construction of a TD-LTE network at the site of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo which is scheduled in May. This marks another milestone for the commercialization of TD-LTE. At the end of 2009, Motorola was chosen by China Mobile to be prime supplier of TD-LTE equipment for Shanghai World Expo venues. During the World Expo, Motorola will provide an advanced site-to-site TD-LTE solution and the global first TD-LTE USB data card. According to a Motorola official in charge of network, Motorola¡¯s premium technologies and service can help China Mobile offer exciting TD-LTE experience at Shanghai World Expo. Chinese Text

China Unicom, Telefonica Launch Joint Procurement

According to a foreign media report, Telefonica and China Unicom is working together to launch a bidding procedure for buying 16 million ADSL modems at a total price of RMB1.6b. The bid invitation has been offered to 40 vendors across the globe, and the modems to be purchased will be used for equipment upgrading for subscribers of both parties and new subscribers. In Oct. 2009, China Unicom and Spain¡¯s Telefonica entered into a strategic alliance and held stakes in each other. They will deepen their cooperation in such fields as joint procurement, mobile service platform development, cross-border customer service, international roaming and technology R&D. Chinese Text

Software

Andriod: the Biggest Winner in Smart Phone Market in 2009

Android devices saw big leaps in both Chinese market and the global market during the last year. Smart phones, essentially pocket computers that on occasion are used to make phone calls, saw their sales in 2009 grow 33 million more units in 2009 over 2008. Among the big names like Apple and Research In Motion, Android had the biggest improvement year-over-year, posting a seven-fold increase to 3.9 percent of the total smart phone market. Its growth growth has come from a variety of handsets from the likes of HTC and Motorola. Android's success experienced in the fourth quarter of 2009 should continue into 2010 as more manufacturers launch Android products, according to the research firm Gartner. Chinese Text

Semiconductor

HP's Singapore lab to develop cloud services platform

On 2/24/2010, Hewlett-Packard announced to open a research lab in Singapore, where it will work on a software platform for delivering cloud-based computing services to enterprises. The platform, called Cirious, will provide a way for service providers such as Vodafone and Verizon Business to offer hosted computing services that are secure and scalable enough for large corporate customers. Cirious will include the ability for customers to move workloads outside their corporate firewalls and into a service provider's data center when the customer needs additional computing capacity, according to HP official statement. 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.

DISCLAIMER: The USITO IT Weekly is a free internal publication for the members of the United States Information Technologies Office (USITO) and certain friends of USITO. Subscription is by invitation only. IT Weekly is a publication of USITO which is solely responsible for its content. This publication may be distributed only by explicit permission from USITO. Please reply this email to unsubscribe from the circulation list. If you have any questions on the contents, please send a message to the chief editor of this publication via wenjie@usito.org.