China Railcom gets connected
( 2002-01-28 10:59 ) (1 )

China Railcom, the country's newest fixed-line telecom operator, has received strong support from the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) for business development.

The network inter-connection between China Railcom and all the other operators will be finished on Thursday, said Zhou Xiaoxian, vice-president of China Railcom.

The MII recently held several special conferences to push the network inter-connection between China Railcom and other operators forward.

After the agreements are signed, calls between China Railcom and other telecom operators will have faster dial-up speeds, better voice quality and fewer disconnections, according to Zhou.

"With the guarantee of inter-connection, China Railcom can now do business without any barriers," he said.

Network inter-connection, which ensures the inter-communication between customers of different operators, is the most important condition for new telecom carriers.

To protect their own profits, dominant operators are always hesitant to provide inter-connection to new players, although the MII firmly stipulates network inter-connection as an obligation.

China Railcom, which spun off from the Ministry of Railways and had been engaged solely in telecomunications along the railway lines, suffered more than any other telecom operator since it had had no relations with the general telecom sector. Many other companies were afraid it would eat into their profits.

A year after Railcom was established, business is still slow, mainly because of tough negotiations on inter-connection.

To ensure a fair and competitive telecom market, the MII has been enforcing this regulation. As a result, many companies have sped up the establishment of network inter-connection.

"Inter-connection is also a rule of the World Trade Organization, which requires that governments provide fair competition for new and overseas players," said Yan Zhongyu, a senior official with the MII.