Plan to merge 3 major networks over 5 years
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-11-30 09:01

China plans to merge three major networks - Internet, telecommunications and broadcasting - into one in the next five years, said a telecommunications expert yesterday.

The merger of three networks has been included into the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010), which is still in the making, said Song Junde, professor at Beijing University's School of Post and Telecommunications. He addressed a forum on telecommunication networks in Beijing.

However, with the broadcasting network under one supervisor and the other two under another, their integration is expected to encounter resistance from vested interests.

As proposed in the five-year program, China is to enhance the construction of its broadband, digital television and next-generation Internet, so as to achieve their merger in the future, said Song.

The merger, Song said, will optimize the structure of China's telecommunications industry and facilitate the upgrading and reform of the networks.

China's network equipment market reached 22.77 billion yuan (US$2.84 billion) last year, up 33.1 percent over the previous year.