China's Ministry of Industry and Information, National Deve-lopment and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance have announced a major reshuffling of the country's telecom industry.

(CCTV 05-25-2008 11:42)China's Ministry of Industry and Information, National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance have announced a major reshuffling of the country's telecom industry.
The long-awaited reorganization involves China's 6 state-owned telecommunication companies.

China Mobile, the largest mobile operator, will acquire fixed-line operator China Railcom, the country's 3rd largest fixed line operator.

China Unicom, the second largest mobile operator, will split its two networks, the CDMA and the GSM. The CDMA network will be sold to China Telecom, the largest fixed-line operator, while China Unicom's GSM network will be incorporated into China Netcom.

China Telecom will also combine the basic telecom services unit of China Satcom, which offers satellite, mobile communications and Internet services.

Authorities say they will issue 3 licenses for its third generation mobile phone technology after the reorganization. The 3G licenses will be issued to help create three competitive phone companies that have telecom resources nationwide, near equal strength and scale, and can offer both mobile and fixed-line services.

China's telecommunication industry was reorganized three times previously - in 1994, 1998 and 2001.