China to allow full foreign ownership in telecom services in Shanghai FTZ

BEIJING - China will open up seven telecom value-added services to foreign capital in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, with five allowing for full foreign ownership, a senior telecom official said Tuesday.

Services with no cap for foreign ownership will include app stores, store and forward, domestic multi-party communication, call centers and home Internet access, according to Wen Ku, head of the telecom development department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Online data and dealing analysis services will allow a foreign ownership of no more than 55 percent, Wen said.

The move is another step in opening up the country's telecom sector as China has already committed under the WTO to open information service, store-and-forward, and online data and dealing analysis services, with a 50-percent cap for foreign stake.

Enterprises that apply for the services should register and base their infrastructure in the Shanghai FTZ, and all services may be available to the whole country, except home Internet access services, which will be confined within the FTZ, Wen said.

Detailed application instructions will be released to facilitate investment in the services, Wen added.