1. The Chinese Interpretation of Industrial Policy in Telecommunications and Media Markets Chinese Media Legislation and Regulation: Trends, Issues and Questions The Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy (PCMLP) at the University of Oxford 16 June 2012 Dr. Thomas Hart Information Society Policy Consultant Senior Advisor to the China Academy for Telecommunications Research of MIIT (CATR) thomas@information-society.de

2. Starting Point: Industrial Policy Rising Popularity of Industrial Policy Interest in good practice for Industrial Policy at work How to verify whether industrial Policy was a “success” or “failure” – To show the factual developments in the Chinese telecoms markets – To speculate whether these can be called “good” or “poor” – To speculate further what the contribution of public policy was to this development – To further speculate whether the Chinese model could be transferred to other economies: 2 2

3. The Markets at Hand impressive growth and usage figures in telecoms Have the markets developed well? Have the markets developed because of or despite government policy? China’s “special circumstances”: – China’s development stage – China’s geographic situation – China’s socio-economic situation – China’s economic policy heritage – China’s Policy Priorities Infrastructure is critical asset 3 3

4. The Industrial Policy Approach Government’s attitude towards Infrastructure: a tool, not a market Balance between economic benefits and overarching policy priorities Simulated market environment in state owenership Example: 2008 market re-shuffle Example: 2012 National Cable Operator Parallel world of broadcasting networks MIIT versus SARFT 4 4

5. The underperfoming market Bandwidth Broadband penetration rate Advertised bandwidth exaggerated TD-SCDMA Price Foreign activities Chinese-language content Domain names Universal service No choice of broadband providers Right of way Etc. 5 5

6. Policy Steps National Broadband Plan Perceived problems met with more intervention, not less Policy not directed towards de-regulation or liberalisation Broadband not included in stimulus package China’s Industrial Policy in Telecommunications, an attempt to only simulate a market, or attempt to simulate industrial policy for this simulated market? 6 6