The long-awaited reorganisation of China's vast telecoms industry begins BY ANY measure—revenues, employees, customers—it is the largest [---①(phrase) ---]ever. And, reflecting how business is done in China, it was announced in the most modest way, with a posting on a government website on May 24th. The country's telecoms industry, with nearly 600m mobile subscribers, 360m fixed-line customers and $244 billion in revenue, will be reconfigured. Six companies will be collapsed into three, each spanning mobile, fixed and broadband services.

 

China Mobile, the world's largest mobile operator by subscribers, will [---②(phrase)---]China TieTong, the smallest fixed-line operator. China Telecom, the country's biggest fixed-line operator, will acquire one of the mobile networks run by China Unicom, which will merge its remaining mobile operations with China Netcom, another fixed-line operator. A sixth operator, China Satcom, will be taken over by China Telecom.

 

The reorganisation had been expected for years, but rumours of an imminent decision [---③(word)---] the Hong Kong and Shanghai markets on May 23rd, provoking a panic that continued until May 27th. The shares of China Telecom, China Unicom and China Netcom were suspended, and those of China Mobile fell in value by 10%, or $31 billion. (The other two operators are unlisted.)

 

[---④(sentence) ---] It will gain a fixed-line arm, but that is no recompense for what it will give up: its lock on the massive mobile market, encompassing two-thirds of Chinese customers and an even higher share of new subscribers. Under the new rules, which have yet to be spelled out, it will face regulatory pressure to allow rivals into its market.