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China Telecom Mulls Entry Into US Telecoms Market

Posted by timothy on from the let-me-introduce-you-to-the-guys dept.

hackingbear excerpts from a story at Engadget: "Instead of resting on its laurels as China's third-largest wireless provider, China Telecom is now looking to branch out into relatively uncharted waters — namely, the U.S. consumer market. ... The proposed service would provide customers with handsets that could be used in both China and the U.S., theoretically appealing to Chinese-Americans, students or businessmen who travel frequently between the two countries ... and would even consider purchasing or constructing its own network in the States,' with the 'capacity to spend 'hundreds of millions or billions' on stateside acquisitions.' At its home turf, despite being a state-owned company, China Telecom, along with China Unicom, is being investigated over alleged monopolistic practices by the Chinese government. The two companies would face penalties of up to 10 percent of their annual business revenues if they were found guilty of monopolistic practices. This is the first such investigation into China's large enterprises since the Anti-Monopoly Law came into effect in 2008."

7 of 161 comments (clear)

  1. Thanks, but no thanks by MrEricSir · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Certainly more competition is good, especially in the mobile phone market where there's barely any.

    But to trust a phone service from a country known for stifling free speech... I think you'd have to be a little crazy.

    --
    There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
    1. Re:Thanks, but no thanks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      But to trust a phone service from a country known for stifling free speech... I think you'd have to be a little crazy.

      And to trust the setup and maintenance of a CALEA-compliant (i.e., completely backdoored and eavesdroppable) phone service to a country known for industrial espionage... I'd think we'd also have to be a little crazy.

    2. Re:Thanks, but no thanks by Zontar_Thing_From_Ve · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Americans have consistently demonstrated that EVERYTHING is negotiable if the price is low enough. Certainly some people would have problems with doing business with China Telecom, but if the cost was low enough and the service was good they'd do OK in this market.

    3. Re:Thanks, but no thanks by LordLimecat · · Score: 4, Insightful

      China is a whole different ballgame, and youre naieve if you think otherwise. Try this test-- you and a buddy each get a cellphone, you in the US, him in China. You place a call to him, and start discussing the need for revolution in each country to fix its evils.

      Then see who gets picked up and sent to a labor camp first. Bonus points if your friend is a chinese citizen.

      I get that the US has problems, and (though Im still skeptical and wary of all the wild claims made about the state of interception here) I dont doubt that the FBI and NSA have some rather scary capabilities. But in the US they STILL have about a zillion hoops to jump through to monitor someone, theyre STILL subject to some degree of oversight, and they STILL respect the ability of a citizen to decry their own government (I dare you to find a citizen who was honest-to-goodness incarcerated for protesting the government here).

      None of that applies in China, they can pick you up for no reason and put you in a labor camp for two years (minus a day) with no trial and no judicial oversight, release you for a day, and then pick you up again. They can, have, and do incarcerate people for simply demanding change. If an Occupy Shanghai movement started up, it would be about 5 hours before there was military rounding all the folks up and shipping them to Inner Mongolia for some ReEducation by Labor.

      So sure, complain about the faults in our system, its what makes us stronger. But comparing us to China? "Youre out of your element, Donny".

    4. Re:Thanks, but no thanks by victorhooi · · Score: 4, Insightful

      heya,

      Yup, I'll have to agree 100% with the parent.

      What really irks me is stupid, affluent, middle-class suburbanites, sitting around sipping their latte decafs, bemoaning the awful, awful state of affairs and how they're "oppressed", and the "Man has them down"...*sigh*.

      Really? Why don't you get off your a*ses and maybe do some travelling and see what the world is really like. In places like China, the CCP can have it's local thugs come and beat you up if you try and stand for election:

      http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2097372,00.html

      Heck, in Singapore, supposedly a bastion of "democracy" in Asia - you get hauled in front of a court on trumped up "anti-sedition" laws if you try and start a protest march without a "license".

      I don't know if it's something to do with our Chinese culture or whatever, but it seems we're just not very compatible with democracy. Or if we do, we try to implement it with a "Chinese twist" *rolls eyes*, which basically means that whichever incumbent party is in power wields a iron fist of power and quashes opposition, all in the name of "promoting harmony and social well-being". What a farce.

      And I'm sure many countries in Africa, the Middle-East, you name it, are the same.

      I live in Australia, and I count myself very lucky and very fortunate that our society is open, and respects the rule of law. Sure, I don't agree with everything my government does - and I can vote, protest and file petitions accordingly (or just call our PM a tosser in public), but I never try to erect some ridiculous straw-man argument or spout hyperbole about how my government is "oppressive and tyrannical" and "destroying democracy".

      To generalise, you silly Americans don't actually know how good you have it *sigh*. I'm not saying that you shouldn't protest or challenge your government (in fact, that's my whole point), but you seriously need to get some perspective and open up your eyes to the real world, and countries outside yourselves.

      Cheers,
      Victor

  2. T-mobile by Usefull+Idiot · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Am I the only one that T-mobile came to mind? I mean if AT&T can't make a deal with them, I'm sure China Telecom would have the $.

  3. No problem, but they only get 49% ... by drnb · · Score: 4, Insightful

    China Telecom Mulls Entry Into US Telecoms Market

    No problem. But China Telecom must do so through a joint venture where they only get 49% ownership and their partners with 51% must be domestic US companies. I'm sure China Telecom will understand how this is the manner in which to invest in a foreign country while tailoring operations to the foreign culture and history and thereby maximizing success. A win-win for everyone right?