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China: Merger of telecom giants in the works

By  |  September 4, 2018

The Chinese government is exploring a merger of two of the nation’s top wireless carriers to speed up the development of 5G mobile services, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, September 4.

The merger, would see state-controlled China Unicom merged with China Telecom, creating a combined carrier with a market capitalization of over US$70 billion. The new firm would still lag behind larger peer China Mobile.

China is pushing to rival the United States in an arms race to dominate the next-generation 5G mobile networks, a technology seen as strategically important in both Beijing and Washington, especially amid increasing global trade tensions.

China Unicom, formally known as China United Network Communications, said it was not aware of the situation, in response to the report of a possible merger. China Telecom referred to their response to questions about a merger at the company’s recent interim results briefing, where the firm said it had not been notified of any such plans, Bloomberg reported.

Full Content: Bloomberg

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