Andy Chen This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. Asia-Pacific -- November 2000

   www.telecommagazine.com/issues - [Cached]

   Published on: 11/1/2000   Last Visited: 6/16/2001

   Andy Chen , vice president , Marconi ( China ) , agrees that the environment is not yet ready for broadband access to flourish : It won't be until next year at least when it will really take off in China , he says. One of the factors constraining growth , according to Chen , is the prohibitively high bandwidth tariffs which China Telecom imposes on content providers. Although China Telecom operates the largest ISP in the People's Republic , the three major portal sites , which are independent companies ( SOHU , Netease and SINA ) , all have to lease bandwidth so as to get traffic to and from their servers to the ISP. These high prices necessarily limit the content choices and attractiveness of the internet for China's narrowband dial-up users , which in turn would probably make them think twice about upgrading to broadband even if it was an option. But once Unicom and Netcom build out access networks themselves to the end-user , China Telecom will be forced to drop their tariffs drastically , argues Chen. That's going to happen within the next six months..
   
   Other reasons for low broadband access demand has been the high price of full circuits to the US ( compounded by a lack of trans-pacific bandwidth ) , which China's ISPs have had to bear. However , with the prospect of the China-US undersea link ( 8x2.5Gbps ) going online , capacity shortages will not be so acute in the future. Yet historically , despite the increase in bandwidth demand in recent years , Chen notes that China Telecom has never felt the urgency to increase its transmission capability with the US because its ISP operation was not making money anyway ( as in most other countries ). This is a vicious circle.
   ...
   No increases in bandwidth leads to higher tariffs , which leads to less take-up and lack of profit , says Chen.
   
   Because of the high bandwidth prices , the usage of China Telecom's network is less than it could be ( 50 per cent capacity is not used ) , so why doesn't it simply lower prices. As a state-owned enterprise , China Telecom doesn't have a strong track record of looking at what the user wants and constructing business models from what may happen if they drop prices , points out Chen.
   
   Local loop monopoly
   
   China Telecom's hand will of course be forced once its rivals build out their own access networks. And with China's pending accession to the WTO , it's also possible that China's state-owned operator will have to relinquish its local loop monopoly. According to the reference paper on telecoms signed by WTO members. in February 1997 -- and one which China has agreed to adhere to as one of the conditions of its WTO accession -- it says that competitors should be able to interconnect 'at any technically feasible point on the incumbent's network' and to formulate mutually acceptable interconnect agreements.
   ...
   Many of the people working for MII now used to work for China Telecom , so there is a tendency to protect the former monopoly holder , observes Chen. There is some collusion between China Telecom and MII..

2. 2. Asia-Pacific -- November 2000

   tcs-prod.weblabs.com/issues/20 - [Cached]

   Published on: 11/1/2000   Last Visited: 6/15/2001

   Andy Chen , vice president , Marconi ( China ) , agrees that the environment is not yet ready for broadband access to flourish : It won't be until next year at least when it will really take off in China , he says. One of the factors constraining growth , according to Chen , is the prohibitively high bandwidth tariffs which China Telecom imposes on content providers. Although China Telecom operates the largest ISP in the People's Republic , the three major portal sites , which are independent companies ( SOHU , Netease and SINA ) , all have to lease bandwidth so as to get traffic to and from their servers to the ISP. These high prices necessarily limit the content choices and attractiveness of the internet for China's narrowband dial-up users , which in turn would probably make them think twice about upgrading to broadband even if it was an option. But once Unicom and Netcom build out access networks themselves to the end-user , China Telecom will be forced to drop their tariffs drastically , argues Chen. That's going to happen within the next six months..
   
   Other reasons for low broadband access demand has been the high price of full circuits to the US ( compounded by a lack of trans-pacific bandwidth ) , which China's ISPs have had to bear. However , with the prospect of the China-US undersea link ( 8x2.5Gbps ) going online , capacity shortages will not be so acute in the future. Yet historically , despite the increase in bandwidth demand in recent years , Chen notes that China Telecom has never felt the urgency to increase its transmission capability with the US because its ISP operation was not making money anyway ( as in most other countries ). This is a vicious circle.
   ...
   No increases in bandwidth leads to higher tariffs , which leads to less take-up and lack of profit , says Chen.
   
   Because of the high bandwidth prices , the usage of China Telecom's network is less than it could be ( 50 per cent capacity is not used ) , so why doesn't it simply lower prices. As a state-owned enterprise , China Telecom doesn't have a strong track record of looking at what the user wants and constructing business models from what may happen if they drop prices , points out Chen.
   
   Local loop monopoly
   
   China Telecom's hand will of course be forced once its rivals build out their own access networks. And with China's pending accession to the WTO , it's also possible that China's state-owned operator will have to relinquish its local loop monopoly. According to the reference paper on telecoms signed by WTO members. in February 1997 -- and one which China has agreed to adhere to as one of the conditions of its WTO accession -- it says that competitors should be able to interconnect 'at any technically feasible point on the incumbent's network' and to formulate mutually acceptable interconnect agreements.
   ...
   Many of the people working for MII now used to work for China Telecom , so there is a tendency to protect the former monopoly holder , observes Chen. There is some collusion between China Telecom and MII..

3. 3. Asia-Pacific -- November 2000

   www.telecoms-mag.com/issues/20 - [Cached]

   Published on: 11/1/2000   Last Visited: 7/18/2001

   Andy Chen, vice president, Marconi (China), agrees that the environment is not yet ready for broadband access to flourish: "It won't be until next year at least when it will really take off in China," he says. One of the factors constraining growth, according to Chen, is the prohibitively high bandwidth tariffs which China Telecom imposes on content providers. Although China Telecom operates the largest ISP in the People's Republic, the three major portal sites, which are independent companies (SOHU, Netease and SINA), all have to lease bandwidth so as to get traffic to and from their servers to the ISP. These high prices necessarily limit the content choices and attractiveness of the internet for China's narrowband dial-up users, which in turn would probably make them think twice about upgrading to broadband even if it was an option. "But once Unicom and Netcom build out access networks themselves to the end-user, China Telecom will be forced to drop their tariffs drastically," argues Chen. "That's going to happen within the next six months."
   
   Other reasons for low broadband access demand has been the high price of full circuits to the US (compounded by a lack of trans-pacific bandwidth), which China's ISPs have had to bear. However, with the prospect of the China-US undersea link (8x2.5Gbps) going online, capacity shortages will not be so acute in the future. Yet historically, despite the increase in bandwidth demand in recent years, Chen notes that China Telecom has never felt the urgency to increase its transmission capability with the US because its ISP operation was not making money anyway (as in most other countries). "This is a vicious circle.
   ...
   No increases in bandwidth leads to higher tariffs, which leads to less take-up and lack of profit," says Chen.
   
   Because of the high bandwidth prices, the usage of China Telecom's network is less than it could be (50 per cent capacity is not used), so why doesn't it simply lower prices? "As a state-owned enterprise, China Telecom doesn't have a strong track record of looking at what the user wants and constructing business models from what may happen if they drop prices," points out Chen.
   
   Local loop monopoly
   
   China Telecom's hand will of course be forced once its rivals build out their own access networks. And with China's pending accession to the WTO, it's also possible that China's state-owned operator will have to relinquish its local loop monopoly. According to the reference paper on telecoms signed by WTO members in February 1997 -- and one which China has agreed to adhere to as one of the conditions of its WTO accession -- it says that competitors should be able to interconnect 'at any technically feasible point on the incumbent's network' and to formulate mutually acceptable interconnect agreements.
   ...
   "Many of the people working for MII now used to work for China Telecom, so there is a tendency to protect the former monopoly holder," observes Chen. "There is some collusion between China Telecom and MII."
   
   ...
   Marconi's Chen concurs: "Unicom already has, in most large metropolitan areas, a citywide fibre ring and laying cable in China is not that expensive compared with Europe. Many of the new buildings being built have pipes for cable."