PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The mission led in China by the French Telecommunications and Postal Regulatory Authority (ARCEP) aimed at getting a broad overview of the Chinese telecommunications sector. This mission was led in April 2009 by Joëlle Toledano and Nicolas Curien, members of the Executive Board of ARCEP.

They were offered the opportunity to meet with telecommunications players involved in China as well as Chinese officials: Alcatel Shanghai Bell, Alliance TD SCDMA, Atelier BNP Paribas, BDA, China Mobile, China Unicom, France Telecom, Huawei, Internet Society of China (ISC), MIIT, Nexian, Shanghai Communications Administration, Sina and ZTE.

China’s figures are spectacular considering that telecommunications networks are very recent installations in that country. There were very few phone lines for a long time: only 3 million at the start of the 1980s and 12 million in 1990, or one line for every 100 inhabitants. It was not until the late 1990s that the telecommunications networks began to expand, and the today figures are spectacular.

The report mission gives an updated panorama of the Chinese telecommunications sector by:

• presenting its regulatory framework and market structure;
• analysing its network rollouts processes;
• identifying the main Chinese equipment manufacturers;
• delivering the key data about its national services and consumption markets;

By doing so, ARCEP’s report mission in China tries to give some answers to the following questions: How has such an expansion been possible? What decisive changes were made to the regulatory framework? Has the current recession undermined the massive rollouts of 3G mobile networks planned for 2009-2010? What international ambitions do China’s operators and equipment manufacturers have?

Download the full report in English on ARCEP’s website:

http://www.arcep.fr/uploads/tx_gspublication/rapport-mission-chine-nov09.pdf

More about ARCEP: www.arcep.fr