Article: The impact of China's WTO accession on its mobile communications market Journal: Journal of Business and Management (JBM) 2003 Vol.9 No.2 pp.151 - 170 Abstract: For any global telecommunications company, the Chinese mobile communications sector is dynamic and vibrant. As the world's largest mobile communications market, China had a total of 136 million mobile phone subscribers by October 2001. In November 1999, China reached an agreement with the U.S. about China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). This agreement was widely viewed as presenting a tremendous new set of opportunities for foreign investors. It also poses a serious threat to domestic telecommunications companies that have, until recently, been protected by government policies and shielded from direct foreign competition. This paper offers an in-depth account of the history of this important sector of the Chinese economy and analyzes its potential trajectory under the WTO rules. It intends to provide a picture of how the China mobile communication industry evolves, who are the major players, and how the WTO accession might impact these players. Specifically, this descriptive study attempts to address the following questions: 1. How will the Chinese government restructure the telecommunications authority to facilitate the transition to the WTO era? 2. What are the new opportunities and threats for domestic players and foreign organizations that operate in China or consider entering the market? 3. What is the outlook for China's mobile communications market? Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: The impact of China's WTO accession on its mobile communications market

Authors: Winter Nie; Hongjian Zeng

Addresses: Author address listing can be found in the "About the Authors" section at the end of the article.

Abstract: For any global telecommunications company, the Chinese mobile communications sector is dynamic and vibrant. As the world's largest mobile communications market, China had a total of 136 million mobile phone subscribers by October 2001. In November 1999, China reached an agreement with the U.S. about China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). This agreement was widely viewed as presenting a tremendous new set of opportunities for foreign investors. It also poses a serious threat to domestic telecommunications companies that have, until recently, been protected by government policies and shielded from direct foreign competition. This paper offers an in-depth account of the history of this important sector of the Chinese economy and analyzes its potential trajectory under the WTO rules. It intends to provide a picture of how the China mobile communication industry evolves, who are the major players, and how the WTO accession might impact these players. Specifically, this descriptive study attempts to address the following questions: 1. How will the Chinese government restructure the telecommunications authority to facilitate the transition to the WTO era? 2. What are the new opportunities and threats for domestic players and foreign organizations that operate in China or consider entering the market? 3. What is the outlook for China's mobile communications market?

Keywords: Keywords: WTO accession; mobile communications; telecommunications industry; foreign investment.

DOI: 10.1504/JBM.2003.141106

Journal of Business and Management, 2003 Vol.9 No.2, pp.151 - 170

Published online: 05 Sep 2024 *

Title: The impact of China's WTO accession on its mobile communications market

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