
US
: China's telecom services market will undergo dramatic changes over
the next three years, once the national government awards licenses
to offer third-generation (3G) wireless services -- changes that will
include a short-term increase in capital spending and probable carrier
consolidation, according to a new report released today by Heavy Reading,
Light Reading Inc.'s market research division.
Telecom in China: Carrier
Capex Trends delivers a thorough analysis of China's telecom services
market by examining technology and service deployments and capital
expenditure data for China's largest incumbent and competitive carriers.
The report, created by a team of independent analysts within China,
presents hard data on subscribers, service revenues, and capex for
China's major carriers and analyzes service rollout plans to determine
which network technologies are most likely to attract the carrier
capex in the months and years ahead.
China's largest network
operators will make significant shifts in their capex plans as they
ramp up for the next phase of network modernization, according to
the report. These shifts in capex will have significant ramifications
for telecom technology suppliers worldwide as they look to establish
themselves in the world's largest national telecom market.
"Western telecom equipment
vendors are scrambling to line up local partners in China to have
their 3G play in place as soon as licenses are awarded," notes
Dennis Mendyk, Managing Director of Heavy Reading. "China's delay
in announcing the 3G winners has helped some Western vendors by buying
them a little more time to pull deals together."
Nokia (NYSE: NOK) is the
latest Western vendor to announce a partnership with a domestic 3G
manufacturer in China, joining incumbent suppliers Nortel Networks
(NYSE/Toronto: NT), Alcatel (NYSE: ALA; Paris: CGEP.PA), Ericsson
(Nasdaq: ERICY), and Siemens (NYSE: SI; Frankfurt: SIE) in the China
3G partnership race.
China's big telecom carriers
have curtailed capital expenditures over the past two years, partly
in anticipation of the spending spree that will come when 3G licenses
are awarded, according to the new report. And at least one of China's
top four top network operators is likely to be shut out of the 3G
licensing contest, prompting a carrier realignment that could result
in the breakup of one of those operators, the report concludes.
Other key findings from
Telecom in China: Carrier Capex Trends include the following:
3G is critical to China's
telecom carriers, because despite healthy subscriber growth rates,
China's network operators are facing flat or declining revenues due
to intense price competition. Average revenue per user (ARPU) has
declined significantly since 2003, due not only to competition among
wireless operators, but also to personal handyphone system (PHS) subscribers
being signed up by fixed-line service providers.
The immediate future for
3G licensing remains unclear. All of China's major operators are pursuing
3G licenses, but the timing of their issuance by the national government
remains unclear. Recent reports suggest that 3G licenses may not be
awarded until sometime in 2006.
China's network operators
expect capex to grow in 2007. This year's decline is expected to level
off in 2006, as carriers being spending on 3G network buildouts. The
combination of 3G buildout and final preparations for the Beijing
Olympics is expected to increase capex by about 5 percent in 2007.
Telecom in China:
Carrier Capex Trends, a 49-page report, costs $3,495 and is published
in PDF format. The price includes an enterprise license covering all
of the employees at the purchaser's company.