BDA In The Press - Archive 1995-97

BDA In The Press 2000 + 1999 + 1998 + 1995-97

South China Morning Post
Sunday 8 June 1997

Some say the MPT and Unicom just cannot continue at this rate of growth without foreign financial help. The latest Five-Year Plan (1996-2000) envisages spending of 500 billion yuan (about HK$464 billion) on telecoms infrastructure.

Improving service levels and accounting practices are another area where outside expertise could be sought." Billing and interconnection fees between China's cellular operators are in a mess," Beijing based telecoms consultant Duncan Clark said.

The Asian Wall Street Journal
Monday 23 September 1996

"The door is still closed to foreign operators, but there's now a letterbox through which you are encouraged to pass your wallet." says telecommunications consultant Duncan Clark in Beijing. The hope, he adds, is that the wallet will come back full of cash. [...]

"Without the necessary separation of the regulatory and operating powers of the [ministry], Unicom is exposed to all kinds of sabotage," says Mr. Clark, the consultant.

Newsweek
[1996]

"Chinese telecom authorities are very up-to-date on both the advantages and problems with new technologies" notes Duncan Clark, Director of BD Associates, a telecom investment consultancy in Beijing.

To achieve this goal, China will commit nearly $10 billion to posts and telecommunications development in 1995. Until recently, telephony service in China was dominated by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPT). In July 1995, a new network operator, China United Telecommunications (also known as Unicom), began providing GSM-based cellular-telephone service in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. According to BD Associates' Duncan Clark, Unicom's presence has forced MPT to drop its connections charge for cellular users by 30 percent in Beijing.

The Economist
22-28 July 1995

In April China's telecoms minister, Wu Jichuan, said that foreign capital was permissible in telecoms "experiments"- although since then the authorities have restated their intention not to relinquish ownership or management control to a foreign concern. [...]

Why should a foreign company want to be involved in such a capricious market? One benefit of getting into China early, however messy the market looks, is simply to gain a foothold. It has worked before: Germany's Volkswagen, which started making cars in China in 1984, now leads a market from which many rivals are locked out. And regulation in China often follows events: the Huamei deal, for example, was being negotiated well before Mr Wu made his comments about experiments.

Such a risk might be worth running for a telecoms company: it is less attractive for a banker. Duncan Clark, director of BD Associates, a Beijing-based telecoms-investment consultancy, reckons that most telecoms projects will have to be financed by the operators themselves, which could limit the size of the projects.

Copyright © 1998-2000 BDA China Limited.

	South China Morning Post Sunday 8 June 1997
			Some say the MPT and Unicom just cannot continue at this rate of growth without foreign financial help. The latest Five-Year Plan (1996-2000) envisages spending of 500 billion yuan (about HK$464 billion) on telecoms infrastructure. Improving service levels and accounting practices are another area where outside expertise could be sought." Billing and interconnection fees between China's cellular operators are in a mess," Beijing based telecoms consultant Duncan Clark said.

	The Asian Wall Street Journal Monday 23 September 1996
			"The door is still closed to foreign operators, but there's now a letterbox through which you are encouraged to pass your wallet." says telecommunications consultant Duncan Clark in Beijing. The hope, he adds, is that the wallet will come back full of cash. [...] "Without the necessary separation of the regulatory and operating powers of the [ministry], Unicom is exposed to all kinds of sabotage," says Mr. Clark, the consultant.

	Newsweek [1996]
			"Chinese telecom authorities are very up-to-date on both the advantages and problems with new technologies" notes Duncan Clark, Director of BD Associates, a telecom investment consultancy in Beijing. To achieve this goal, China will commit nearly $10 billion to posts and telecommunications development in 1995. Until recently, telephony service in China was dominated by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPT). In July 1995, a new network operator, China United Telecommunications (also known as Unicom), began providing GSM-based cellular-telephone service in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. According to BD Associates' Duncan Clark, Unicom's presence has forced MPT to drop its connections charge for cellular users by 30 percent in Beijing.

	The Economist 22-28 July 1995
			In April China's telecoms minister, Wu Jichuan, said that foreign capital was permissible in telecoms "experiments"- although since then the authorities have restated their intention not to relinquish ownership or management control to a foreign concern. [...] Why should a foreign company want to be involved in such a capricious market? One benefit of getting into China early, however messy the market looks, is simply to gain a foothold. It has worked before: Germany's Volkswagen, which started making cars in China in 1984, now leads a market from which many rivals are locked out. And regulation in China often follows events: the Huamei deal, for example, was being negotiated well before Mr Wu made his comments about experiments. Such a risk might be worth running for a telecoms company: it is less attractive for a banker. Duncan Clark, director of BD Associates, a Beijing-based telecoms-investment consultancy, reckons that most telecoms projects will have to be financed by the operators themselves, which could limit the size of the projects.

			Copyright © 1998-2000 BDA China Limited.