PCCW's successful bid to secure rights to operate third-generation mobile phone services under Hong Kong's sole code division multiple access licence, announced on Monday, indicates that shareholder China Netcom Group Corp could obtain a similar licence in the mainland, sources said yesterday.
PCCW surprised the market by emerging this week as the only bidder for rights to operate a network using the CDMA 2000 technology standard while the mainland's China Unicom, which has 40 million users of its CDMA network, stood back.
Market watchers said the move by PCCW, which was 20 per cent held by mainland fixed-line operator Netcom, might be linked to a restructuring of the industry that could cut the number of mainland telecommunications operators to three or fewer from four.
Unicom, which owns two mobile networks, is rumoured to be the focus of a restructuring, with Netcom and fixed-line operator China Telecom eyeing its mobile assets.
'China Unicom should keep its profitable and larger GSM business under the existing brand, while its smaller CDMA operation may be transferred to the fixed-line operators,' a source said.
He implied one possible scenario, in which China Telecom and Netcom share the CDMA network after the shake-up.