Mainland China’s Policy on CDMA Wireless Systems and the Development of the CDMA Industry

• Main Authors: DENIS ILIN, 吉尼斯
• Other Authors: Guo Jianzhong
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2003
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/07199941829453446963

碩士 === 國立臺灣大學法教分處 === 政治學研究所 === 91 === Mainland China’s Policy on CDMA Wireless Systems and the Development of the CDMA Industry Student: Denis ILIN Advisor: Dr. Guo Jianzhong International Relations Subdivision Graduate Institute of Political Science National Taiwan University ABSTRACT In science and technology, the communications industry holds the greatest potential for growth; it has also become the leading industry in Mainland China. The author of this paper predicts that in the future China will also become the world’s biggest market for CDMA wireless systems. The Chinese government’s policy on communications will thus enjoy a huge influence on the global communications market. As CDMA’s wireless technology enjoys many advantages over GSM, the Chinese government has decided to enhance the competitiveness of China Unicom Corp. by implementing CDMA. By making CDMA the main tool in deregulating the domestic communications market CDMA can become the main instrument in the competition between Unicom and China Mobile in order to promote the free competition policy. On the other hand, by placing restrictions on the entry of foreign businesses into the domestic market, the Chinese government aims at fostering local enterprises, gaining a competitive edge, and reducing the shock of domestic companies after China enters the WTO. 1. Mainland China’s policy for handling the mobile communications industry appears so far to be unsuccessful with respect to promoting competition in the industry. Use of CDMA has simply given China Mobile and Unicom complete control over the domestic market. Therefore, consumers have not yet benefited from the given policy. However, if the Chinese government will continue to pursue a free market policy, the situation may improve. 2. CDMA enjoys many advantages over GSM, but the success or failure of this technology in China is not determined by its communications quality. The author claims that CDMA ability to succeed in the Mainland Chinese marketplace depends largely upon successful marketing strategy (i.e. the technology with the most tangible benefits will best woo win consumers). 3. The mobile communications industry is only a small part of Mainland China’s policy on communications, and the government’s current policy on CDMA is not being used to develop Unicom─quite the opposite: Unicom is only a guinea pig in the government’s overall policy. The Chinese government is adopting a gradualist policy by making Unicom serve as a testing ground to perfect the system, and using the experience gleaned from these tests to aid other domestic companies. If Unicom loses the protection of the Chinese government, it may not be able to sustain stable growth in the future. 4. The Chinese government’s heavy funding of this project is the main reason for the policy’s success. Nevertheless, this policy does not guarantee economic benefits, and could lead to the company’s postponing the CDMA deployment schedule and, as a result, the delay in launching CDMA2000 1X. CDMA2000 1X will need to go through a trial period first, and, as a result, they could finally miss the most opportune moment for winning customer acceptance. 5. With the launch of the CDMA wireless Internet service, it will be much harder for the Chinese government to control information and data exchange, and at the same time, taking into account that in Mainland China, national interests always override the interests of the communications industry, mobile ICP enterprises may have a hard time avoiding political issues and may eventually be compelled by the local authorities to close down. Therefore, the author’s recommendations are as follows: 1. The Chinese central government ought to establish a unified system of laws and regulations governing the telecommunications industry and accelerate implementation and enforcement. 2. The author suggests that foreign businessmen coordinate their policies directly with the local government, in order to circumvent the endless investment restrictions set up by the Central government. By doing so, foreign businessmen can hopefully gain easier access to the Chinese domestic market. 3. As the promise of establishing a domestic wireless communications union does not seem to be in reach at this time, the author advises the government to abolish the unified price stipulation. As scale, production quality, and cost differ widely among local manufacturers, the unified price stipulation makes no sense. This policy decreases the competitiveness of the firms in the union and will finally lead to huge losses for those manufacturers who have large investments and high overhead. 4. The author also suggests that the Chinese authorities abandon shipping regulations and allow licensed manufacturers to make the decisions themselves as to whether or not they produce CDMA mobile phones.