A War Irrelevant to Consumers.docVIP

A War Irrelevant to Consumers 　　The sword of anti-monop- oly of China has stayed inside its sheath quietly for three years. When it was drawn out, it surprisingly charged at China Telecom and China Unicom. 　　When interviewed by CCTV, Li Qing, deputy director of the Bureau of Price Supervision and Inspection and Anti-Monopoly at the National Development and Reform Commission, stated on November 9 that the anti-monopoly department immediately launched the investigations into China Telecom and China Unicom which were doubted to be involved in price monopoly soon after receiving the accusation in the first half of 2011. The main goal of this investigation was to make clear whether China Telecom and China Unicom used their own market dominance places to prevent and affect other operators’ entry into the fields of broadband access and inter-network settlement. 　　According to Li Qing, China Telecom could earn 50 billion yuan (USD 7.88 billion) per year from Internet access. For China Unicom, the income from this field could reach 30 billion yuan (USD 4.73 billion). “If their monopolization proved to be true after the investigation, they will be fined about 1%-10% of their annual income.” 　　The news shocked the public. Some people applauded for this and claimed that “it is the evangel for the Internet industry”. Some people said that it was a well planned plot and a “show” of contending for profits among different departments under current system. 　　Journalists from Xinhua News Agency tried to tell the nature of this case technically to the readers after massive interviews. 　　 An Ongoing Anti-monopoly Investigation 　　According to confirmed information, the Price Supervision and Inspection Department of the National Development and Reform Commission (its name has been changed to the Bureau of Price Supervision and Inspection and Anti-Monopoly) issued the notice of investigation to China Telecom and China Unicom in the late period of April 2011. About two months later, t