If the number of times a CEO visits any given market is an indication of its importance, then China must be very significant for Australian telecom giant Telstra.

In August, Telstra acquired a 51 per cent stake in Beijing-based real estate portal Soufun.com for US$254 million through its directory and advertising subsidiary Sensis, thus entering the nation's booming Internet market.

Industry sources said the firm is also considering establishing an alliance with China Telecom, the nation's largest fixed-line operator, which operates in much the same fields and has similar plans to boost its broadband, wireless and Internet businesses.

Telstra's ambition in both basic and value-added telecom services in China, as shown from its interest in China Telecom and Soufun, is a typical example of foreign companies' interest in the world's most populous telecom market since the nation joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) five years ago. Now, they have found out it is not wise to build their own networks, with equity investment becoming the dominant form of tapping the benefits of the world's largest market in terms of subscribers.

China Mobile, the world's largest mobile operator, teamed up with Vodafone; China Unicom, a smaller competitor of China Mobile, formed a joint venture with SK Telecom from South Korea; China Unicom, the second-largest fixed-line operator, brought Spanish counterpart Telefonica on board as its largest strategic investor.

The only firm left for foreign investment among the top four operators is China Telecom, which has many large international operators pursuing it, such as Telstra, Japan's NTT and France Telecom.

China is a very unique market: just like its economy, no other country has gone from having the most primitive communication tools to the most advanced telecom system in the world in such a short period of time. Foreign investors and operators must have a realistic attitude when operating in the Chinese market.

Source:佚名