China Railway Telecom is now the seventh player in China's telecom market. It has said it will not hold any opening ceremony, but hopes telecom users will give it a warm welcome.

The newly established company now has a total capital of 13.6 billion yuan (US$1.64 billion) and a telecom network that covers the country's 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities.

The firm will have the right to operate a basic telecom business with services such as domestic long distance calls, local telephone calls, data transfer and Internet-related businesses. It will not yet supply mobile telecommunications or international long distance calls.

"Launching China Railway Telecom helps break the monopoly in the fixed-line telecom business and we can now provide another choice for users," said a senior official with China Railway Telecom, who refused to be named.

Owning the country's second biggest telecom network, the new firm is destined to become a strong rival of China Telecom, which owns the controlling share of the country's fixed-line telecom business.

The official said the firm will have a working staff of around 65,000, three times that of China Unicom, the country's second largest telecom operator after China Telecom.

"We are applying to the State Council for a licence for mobile telecoms and international long distance calls, but have not yet had approval," the official said.

The railway telecom network has been developed over the past five decades and now reaches all areas connected by railway, stretching for 120,000 kilometers and using optic fibre for a third of it. The network covers 500 large and medium-sized cities around the country.

(China Daily 01/08/2001)