中国联通和中国电信结成战略联盟

Shares in China’s second and third-largest state-owned telecom companies jumped yesterday on news of an alliance between them to take on market leader China Mobile.

中国第二和第三大国有电信运营商的股价昨日大涨，原因是它们宣布将结成联盟与市场领先者中国移动(China Mobile)展开竞争。

China Unicom and China Telecom outlined a wide-ranging agreement to fight their dominant¹ competitor with areas of strategic co-operation including sharing capital expenditure² and promoting smartphone standardisation, in addition to joint negotiation³ of international roaming rates and working together to promote their products.

为了挑战目前占霸主地位的竞争对手，中国联通(China Unicom)和中国电信(China Telecom)公布了一份广泛的协议，拟在多个领域开展战略合作，包括共享资本支出、推动智能手机标准化、联合谈判国际漫游资费，以及合作推广它们的产品。

Third-ranked China Telecom and number two China Unicom each rallied more than 7 per cent in Hong Kong before ending the day up 4.8 per cent and 3.8 per cent, respectively.

排名第三的中国电信和排名第二的中国联通在香港上市的股票一度均上涨7%以上，最后分别收涨4.8%和3.8%。

Chris Lane, telecoms analyst⁴ at Sanford Bernstein, said that the key components⁵ for both companies were an agreement to share a new rural 4G network and a proposal for a national smartphone standard.

盛博(Sanford Bernstein)电信分析师克里斯莱恩(Chris Lane)表示，对两家公司来说，关键内容是同意共享一个新的农村4G网络，以及一项国家智能手机标准的提议。

“They’ve in essence decided⁶ to build a third network, a 4G network that will serve both the Unicom and the Telecom subscribers in the rural areas,” said Mr Lane, which would save them capital expenditure of 30-40 per cent and operational spending of 50 per cent.

“他们实质上已决定建设第三个网络，这将是一个4G网络，在农村地区为联通和电信两家的用户服务，”莱恩表示。此举将让两家公司节省30%至40%的资本支出，以及50%的运营支出。

Mr Lane said any financial benefits from the deal were at least 18 months away. Bernstein forecasts upside of 11-12 per cent for each company’s stock price over the long term.

莱恩表示，这笔交易的财务效益至少也要到18个月后才能显现。盛博预测，远期而言联通和电信两家的股价各有11%至12%的上涨空间。

Analysts⁷ said that another aspect of the deal — promoting a new smartphone standard based on supporting six common technologies — would probably appeal to the Chinese government, and appeared to be an effort to enlist⁸ ministry⁹ officials to pressure China Mobile into signing on too.

分析师们表示，该协议的另一个方面——推动六模“全网通”成为智能手机的国家标准——很可能对中国政府具有吸引力，而且似乎意在促使工信部官员对中国移动施压，要求该公司也支持这种标准。

The new standard would make things easier for handset manufacturers because they would only have to make one version for all three carriers. China Telecom would stand to benefit the most as it currently uses the most limited standard.

新标准将让手机制造商的日子好过一些，因为它们将只需要为三家运营商生产一款手机。中国电信从中将受益最大，因为它目前采用局限性最大的技术标准。

China Mobile dominates the market with a 63 per cent share, far outweighing¹⁰ China Unicom’s 22 per cent and China Telecom’s 15 per cent.

中国移动目前主导着市场，占据63%的份额，远远超出中国联通的22%和中国电信的15%。

The alliance follows a shuffle¹¹ in August when Chang Xiaobing, former chairman of China Unicom, took the same role at China Telecom while Wang Xiaochu, departing chairman of China Telecom, took the same post at China Unicom. According to one former telecom official, the alliance was directed by Mr Wang. In contrast, Mr Chang resigned from China Telecom in December as a result of anti-corruption probe.

这一联盟出炉之前，中国电信业在去年8月进行了高层人事洗牌，当时中国联通前董事长常小兵出任中国电信董事长，同时中国电信即将离任的董事长王晓初担任中国联通董事长。据一名前任电信官员透露，这个联盟是王晓初推动的。相比之下，常小兵在去年12月因成为反腐败调查对象而从中国电信辞职。

While executives at both telecom groups insisted that the alliance was not a precursor¹² to a full merger¹³, analysts said it could be the first step in a broad restructuring of the industry and that a merger should not be ruled out.

尽管两家电信集团的高管都坚称这个联盟不是全面合并的前奏曲，但分析师们表示，此举可能是电信业广泛重组的第一步，合并的可能性不应该被排除。

Restructuring the industry appeared to have begun in October with the merging¹⁴ of cell tower assets into a single company, designed to reduce duplication and foster efficient capital spending.

中国电信业的重组似乎已在去年10月起步，首先是把手机信号塔资产合并成一家公司，以求减少重复和促进高效率资本支出。

The moves to pool tower assets, swap¹⁵ chairmen, and now to join up in a strategic alliance underlines just how clubby the world of the Chinese telecommunications industry can be, with the state encouraging just enough competition between companies to keep them from becoming complacent¹⁶. The government believes too much competition could create waste and duplication.

共享信号塔资产、董事长对调，现在又加上战略联盟——这些举措突显中国电信业多么像一个小圈子，政府鼓励各公司之间存在恰到好处的竞争，以防它们变得自满。政府相信，过于激烈的竞争可能造成浪费和重复。