Chinese major telecom operators have signed a deal in network sharing to curb possible duplication in investment, according to China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The country's top telecom industry watchdog said on its website on Thursday that China Mobile, China Telecom and China Netcom have reached an agreement on Wednesday to share their networks.

The deal, which specified in how the telecom carriers will share their existing networks, co-build new facilities and allocate interests, will be implemented next week.

The agreement is a follow-up of a regulation released by Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission in October requiring Chinese telecom operators to open their existing telecom towers and lines to rivals.

The deal came at the eve of China's long-awaited 3G licensing, which will unleash over 200 billion yuan ($29.19 billion) new investment in network expansion and upgrading. These investments have raised concerns in the government, which worries that the move may lead to significant duplication as telecom carriers often build their own towers at the same site.

Analyst said the deal will benefit the county's smaller operator China Telecom and China Unicom as China Mobile, the country's largest operator which takes up about 70 percent of the market share, owns most of the existing network facilities in the country.

(China Daily December 12, 2008)