Navigation
21Vianet 2600Hz 3Com 3GPP 3Leaf 4G 4G licensing 5G Africa Alcatel Shanghai Bell Alcatel-Lucent Alibaba Android antiitrust Apple APT Satellite Arete AT&T auction backbone Baidu Bain bandwidth base station Battery broadband cable CBN CCP censorship Cfius China China brands China FTTH China hi-tech China market China media China Mobile China Mobile Hong Kong China Science China Telecom China Unicom chips Ciena Cisco civil society CNNIC Communist Party convergence copyright CSL cybersecurity Datang drones Egypt Elop Ericsson EU Facebook FDD LTE FDD-LTE feature phones Fiberhome FLAG forecasts Foxconn FTZ Galaxy S3 Google GSMA GTI handset handsets Hisilicon HKBN HKIX HKT HKTV Hong Kong HTC Huawei Hugh Bradlow Hutchison India Infinera Innovation Intel internet investment iOS iPad iPad 2 iPhone IPv6 ITU Japan KDDI KT labour shortage Leadcore low-cost smartphone LTE MAC MAE Mandiant market access Mediatek Meego Miao Wei Microsoft MIIT mobile broadband mobile cloud mobile data mobile security mobile spam mobile TV mobile web Motorola music MVNO MWC national security NDRC New Postcom Nokia Nokia Siemens Nortel NSA NTT DoCoMo OTT Pacnet Panasonic patents PCCW piracy PLA politics Potevio price war private investment Project Loon Qualcomm quantum Reach regulation Reliance Communications Ren Zhengfei Renesys RIM roaming Samsung sanctions Scania Schindler security shanzhai Sharp SKT Skype smartphones Snowden software Sony Ericsson spectrum Spreadtrum standards startups subsea cables subsidies supply chain Symbian tablets Tata Communications TCL TD LTE TD-LTE TD-SCDMA Telstra Trump Twitter urban environment USA US-China vendor financing Vitargent Vodafone New Zealand WAC WCIT Web 2.0 web freedom WeChat WhatsApp Wi-Fi Wikileaks Wimax Windows Mobile WIPO WTO Xi Guohua Xiaolingtong Xinjiang Xoom Youku YTL ZTE
« Shanghai free trade zone will also open up to telcos | Main | 4G contracts: China Mobile throws EU firms a bigger bone »
Friday
Sep202013

Telecom innovation: China is not even in the race 

This is what telecom innovation looks like.

A US startup, 2600hz Mobile, is ready to launch an MVNO with open access and APIs that will allow others to build apps to run on top of it. As the company blog says:

 ...we’re the first company to basically try to open-source cellular integration. We’re trying to encourage the hackers, the tinkerers, the enthusiasts out there in VoIP to get engaged in the next generation of networks - cellular. We’re trying to give you a way where you don’t have to spend $250,000 to just be able to play around with a test cell phone on your own little mobile network.

With this platform its customers can, for example, combine VoIP and cellular to offer a mobile/WiFi hybrid; create low-cost wireless and fixed VoIP bundles; or offer smart services that help users avoid roaming fees.

Today that's innovation. In five years it will be routine.

Here in China, all of that is impossible and will remain impossible. The idea of opening a  network to people without government sanction is a complete non-starter.

As it happens, China is right now trying to introduce an MVNO sector.

A genuinely competitive market would embrace the idea of a network as a giant apps platform. But that's not China. Instead, the new MVNO entrants will have the freedom to offer exactly the same services as the existing infrastructure owners.

For sure, those MVNOs will provide a touch of badly-needed extra competition. But even the most optimistic forecast doesn't expect them to grab more than 1% market share over the next three years.

That's assuming they're allowed to compete. From the limited information available, it looks like they will have to cope with a wholesale price as high as the lowest retail price.

The China Securities Journal reports that the licence shortlist will likely be finalised in October. Which means perhaps the first trials by year-end. We won't hold our breath.

As if to emphasise the air of unreality around China telecoms, a China Mobile honcho last week claimed that WeChat was more of a monopoly than the giant cellco. 

Li Zhengmao, a China Mobile vice-president, said that his company wasn’t a monopoly because it had a mere two-thirds of the market. Speaking at a conference, he said WeChat had much a bigger share of the audience in the room than China Mobile.

Peking University economist Zhang Weiying explained to Li that a monopoly is something which the government “allows some people to do, but doesn’t allow others to do."

At least there's no confusion about open access networks. They're off-limits to everyone.

PrintView Printer Friendly Version

EmailEmail Article to Friend

Reader Comments

There are no comments for this journal entry. To create a new comment, use the form below.

PostPost a New Comment

Enter your information below to add a new comment.

My response is on my own website »
Author Email (optional):
Author URL (optional):
Post:
 
Some HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>