China’s telecoms regulator the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has issued a basic telecommunications licence to state-backed China Broadcasting Network (CBN), making it the nation’s fourth national telecom provider after China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom. The concession enables CBN and its subsidiary China Cable Television Network to provide domestic internet data transmission and telecom infrastructure services nationwide (although not retail voice services). In a statement on its website, the MIIT explained that the move is intended to promote its ‘three network convergence’ policy, which aims to accelerate the convergence of radio and TV broadcasting, telecommunications and internet networks, and to increase competition in the sector.
According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, CBN was established in June 2014 with a mandate to consolidate and unify the country’s myriad cable networks, which use a variety of different technologies.