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China Telecom Mulls Entry Into US Telecoms Market
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."
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."
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"That's the way to do it" - Punch
Well if you can't conquer them, buy them out. It always works.
Go China, maybe US customers will have a hint of good competition in the market place for once.
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 $.
I'm glad China is trying to clean up the corruption in their system, but there's little point if they don't allow competing political parties. An investigation of a state owned company by the state is somewhat suspicious in a democratic system, but when there's only one party, it's goddamn pointless.
-- Let us endeavor so to live that when we pass even the undertaker shall be sorry. -- M. Twain
They'll need to be seriously cheap to overcome the power of Yellow Peril 2.0. Or name themselves Freedom Eagle Bacon Gun-tel.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
The worry is that they'd tap your calls and send everything back to China.
Yep, I know, the USofA may already be tapping your calls.
The idea that China cheats at business and now, they want to use monopoly status in China to come over to the west. This is SUCH a good idea.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
When this happens, I'm there. I'll be their first customer.
This looks to the future where China manages all US infrastructure. Where will it end? One can only imagine.
Chinese management and control of the power grid? Water/sewer? National highway repair? Health care?
For all the bad things people will point out, the sum total is that people will get much better services for the money. The Chinese motivation for doing things in an expert, professional manner will more than compensate for the loss of government control.
Your trade is for a government which grants a lot of freedoms, and a government which curtails some of your freedoms (but generally leaving you alone) in a world where all the services run perfectly. And the freedoms granted in the first case seem to be evaporating in any event.
The Chinese couldn't be *that* much worse than the US, and for good infrastructure I'm willing to take the chance.
The worry is that they'd tap your calls and send everything back to China.
Who cares? Even if the government is not tapping calls already, some network engineer could be listening in for fun on any phone provider you are already using.
Phone conversations are about the least secure form of communication these days; treat it as such.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
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?
Finally a telecom company that has lots of experience working with the government.
a somewhat already saturated market
I have to disagree that the market is saturated. In a competitive market, prices are driven toward the cost of production (plus a normal return on investment) since competitors will undercut each other to get business until they reach that point. Without sufficient competition that doesn't happen, and pricing reflects profit maximization -- i.e., companies charge the most that consumers are willing to pay and reap substantial profits. With U.S. telecoms charging $0.10 for text messages when it costs virtually nothing (certainly not $0.10 or even $0.05) to provide the service, I would say we are quite far from saturation.