[originaltext] As Chinese telecom market steps up the pace of opening to the

As Chinese telecom market steps up the pace of opening to the outside world, China’s four major operators of basic telecom service have introduced accumulative foreign funds amounting to US $ 25. 25 billion. The four telecom operators, namely, China Telecom, China Netcom, China Mobile and China Unicom, have all been listed overseas, indicating a substantial opening in the capital market. When Chinese telecom market accelerates opening to foreign investment, going abroad is a key way for Chinese enterprise to be integrated with world economy, said an official in charge of the Telecom Administration Department of the Ministry of Information Industry on a senior forum on development of China’s telecom industry held in Beijing on July 7. In addition to providing users of roaming service, transnational operation, international business, these basic telecom service operators are exploring new area in cooperation with neighboring countries in telecom operation, or setting up branches overseas, and teaming up with telecom equipment suppliers in expanding overseas market. Statistics show that by the end of May, China has registered a total of 692 million phone users including 330 million fixed phone users and 358 million mobile phone users.