|
|
  |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese telecoms to expand in China
By Alex Frew McMillan
HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Japanese telecoms KDDI and NTT will expand their operations in China, according to a report. The two companies are keen to boost their presence ahead of China opening up its telecom industry by the end of 2004. KDDI, Japan's No. 2 telecom after NTT, will set up a subsidiary in Guangzhou, across the border from Hong Kong in Guangdong province, in the middle of January, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported on Monday. The subsidiary will help Japanese companies build telecommunications systems in China, in conjunction with local phone carriers. KDDI will fund it with 50 million yen ($420 million) in capital, the Nikkei stated. It already has similar subsidiaries in Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Looking for increased salesThe company is hoping to generate 10 billion yen ($84 million) in nonphone sales in China by the 2005 business year. NTT Communications Corp., a subsidiary of Japan's fixed-line giant NTT, is looking to boost employment at its joint ventures in Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai. The company is also reportedly setting up an operation in the city of Suzhou later in January, also to help Japanese businesses deal with local companies to build phone systems. Overseas companies currently cannot offer local and long-distance phone service in China. But China is due to lift that restriction in the cities of Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai by December 2004, as part of its concessions in joining the World Trade Organization. After that liberalization, China will then lift the restriction in 17 other cities by the end of 2006. The stocks of NTT and KDDI have yet to react to the report because Japan's stock markets were closed on Monday for the Coming of Age Day holiday.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
