Chinanet, one of the mainland's six nationwide Internet service providers (ISP), is expected to list as soon as next year, according to a Beijing Telecom official. Wang Fule, vice-general manager and senior engineer of Beijing Telecom, said its sister company - Chinanet - would list because it needed capital to finance its business plan. 'It needs lots of money to develop ISP business,' he said. 'Take Beijing Telecom as an example. It cost us 1.45 billion yuan [about HK$1.35 billion] this year to develop our ISP business,' he added. Beijing Telecom is a subsidiary of China Telecom, the unlisted telecommunications operating arm of the Ministry of Information Industry. Chinanet is the mainland's largest ISP operator. Mr Wang said China Telecom's fixed-line operations - Directorate General of Telecommunications (DGT) - was unlikely to go public in the near future. 'A listing for DGT is definite, but it takes a long time,' the Beijing Telecom official said.